Postcolonial Hong Kong cinema: utilitarianism and (trans)local

Hong Kong cinema has witnessed a drastic deterioration in the last decade, with a sharp plummet in both the number of annual productions and box office receipts. The key objective of this paper is to explore the relationship between the postcolonial Hong Kong identity as reflected and intertwined in the new filmmaking environment, which is now dominated by two main manifestations: the making of Hong Kong-mainland Chinese co-produced blockbusters, and the branding of a New Asian Cinema by smaller budget alternative films. The fervent marketing and financing experimentations taking place in the film industry can be seen as test-beds for Hong Kong's postcolonial economic/cultural reform, demonstrating the painstaking attempts of this global city to dance around China and the world. Taking seriously into account how the actual films produced are intertwined with the flow of capital they coordinate, we might find it increasingly difficult to fit Hong Kong cinema in the hitherto postcolonial model, in which the films of Hong Kong supposedly assert the identity of the Hong Kong people against a certain hegemonic other. Other than exploring Hong Kong's postcolonial identity, this paper also tries to pursue a model which can articulate more carefully how economy and culture merge and divert in global cinema, which cannot be easily comprehended by such binary thinking as hegemony and alternatives.