International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

The term “Hong Kong cinema” refers both to an industry and to a phenomenon. In its most concrete sense it denotes the cinematic productions based in the former colony and now Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. But in a larger sense it also refers to a stylistic and cultural movement, and the influence of that movement regionally and globally (→ Cinema ; Popular Culture ). As a cultural influence Hong Kong cinema has experienced several different stages. Hong Kong first became internationally known for its kung fu movies , which displaced the sword-fighting wuxia genre once widely popular in Chinese communities of the 1970s ( Teo 1997 , 103; → Film Genres ). In the previous decades the Hong Kong industry had been dominated by large Mandarin-language studios such as Shaw Brothers and Motion Pictures and General Investment Film Company (a.k.a. Cathay). These companies moved to Hong Kong from Shanghai after the postwar communist victory and produced films reflecting the commercial modernization associated with the 1960s. The 1970s, however, saw the decline of the major Mandarin studios. Former Shaw Brothers executive Raymond Chow started Golden Harvest, the studio that signed Bruce Lee. Lee developed his own Cantonese version of martial arts films, with himself as kung fu star, in The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury (1972), and Way of the Dragon (1973), gradually ... log in or subscribe to read full text