The Mediated Metropolis: Anthropological Issues in Cities and Mass Communication

Author(s): Cindy Hing-Yuk Wong and Gary W. McDonogh

Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 103, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 96-111
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
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CINDY HING-YUK WONG
MediaCulture
Universityof New York
Collegeof StatenIsland/City
New York,NY 10314

GARYW. MCDONOGH
GrowthandStructure
of Cities
BrynMawrCollege
BrynMawr,PA 19010-2899

The MediatedMetropolis:
AnthropologicalIssuesin Citiesand Mass Communication
Cinema,radio,television,video,theInternet,andothervisualmassmediahavefoundnichesin thedensecreativity of
urban
twentieth-century life,altering socialpractices andcultural encounters worldwide. Yet,withoutcitieswhereproduc-
ersandaudiences massproduction,
havecongregated, texts,distribution, andreception lackhumanfoundations. Thissym-
biosisdemandscarefulethnographic analysisof mediawithinconcreteurbanhistories.We illustratethisapproach from
workwithfilmandviewership in twocities.HongKonghasgainedglobalfameforitsfilms,oftenscrutinized forcluesto
its identity;we examinehow moviegoingitselfandthe contextsof transnational definea changingcity.
spectatorship
Philadelphia, hasrarelycontrolled
by contrast, its film images;here, it is useful
to contrast
theproduction andreadingof
visualimagesaboutthe city withimagesproduced throughnarrowcast mediathatspeakto urbansocial issues.In both
cases,urbanvisualcultureshighlightcontestation andcreativity in localandglobalframeworks. [film,grassrootsmedia,
urbanimagery,Hong Kong,Philadelphia]

he visual culture of cities, whethermediated Andof coursethefood-all thoseexoticfoodslike water

throughmass productionof film and televisionor
embodied in vernacularstructuresof architecture
and murals,representsa centralformativefeatureof the
lives and identitiesof contemporarycitizens.While ques-
tions of film and the city have come to be associatedwith
communicationandculturalstudies(Clarke1992;Donald
1999; Gandini1994; Lamster2000), they also are central
to anthropologicalinquiry. In fact, as Sara Dickey has
notedin her 1997 reviewof anthropologyandmass media,
such analyses often demandethnographicfieldworkand
culturalanalysis as fundamentalaspects of communica-
tionsresearch(see Spitulnik1993).As we arguehere,such
interdisciplinary studies also illuminatecontemporaryur-
ban life, divisions,and futuresin bothlocal and globaldi-
mensions.
Considerthe early cinematic memoriesof Yuen-ling,
born in the late 1950s in the fishing village of Shau Kei
Wan (an area now fully incorporatedinto metropolitan
Hong Kong):
I saw moviesever since I can remember. I guessI started
whenI wastwoyearsoldor21/2.InShauKeiWan,therewere
threemoviehouses.... Besidesthegoodmoviestherewere
allthetear-jerkingCantonese operas.
cockroaches(long sut), squidand char siu. I enjoyedmy
lunchin the moviehouse.Beforemy pre-schooltime,my
mommytookme to movies.... In Primary I, everydayafter
morningschool,my mommywouldbringme to buy some
charsiu andwe wouldgo to see tear-jerking movies... he-
roicwomenmovies....
In ShauKei Wan,the moviehousewas all woodenwith
lots of sut (fleas).WongFei Hongwas playingalways,and
lotsof FanBo Bo. ThesecondonewasGoldenStar.Itsome-
timeshadforeignlanguagefilms.Help.I saw Disneythere.
[interview1997]
Hong Kong cinema, especially since the 1980s, has be-
come knownworldwidefor its rapidchoreographyof ac-
tion andimagery,its visions of a city of franticenergyand
towering verticality,and its relationto a city caughtbe-
tweencolonialismandreturnto China.This recurrentstyle
and urbanityhas led filmmakers,critics, and citizens to
searchfor metaphoricmeaningsin films fromTsui Hark's
Wicked City (1992) or Ann Hui's Song of Exile (1990) to
FruitChan'sTheLongestSummer(2000). Yet, suchfilms
never constitutedthe entire cinematographicuniverseof
Hong Kongcitizensnorwere they isolatedfromsocial ex-
periencesof viewing and choice. For Yuen-ling,going to

AmericanAnthropologist103(1):96-111. Copyright? 2001, AmericanAnthropologicalAssociation


the movies was a significantandfrequentevent, mingling
films, foods, and community.This experience,in turn,re-
inforcedfamily and identity:"goingto the movies"was a
centralsocial and culturalpracticeof post-WorldWar II
Hong Kong. Highly local images and familiaractorsand
plots (the endless swordsmansequels of Wong Fei Hung
or the heritageof Cantoneseoperas)contrastedwithHolly-
wood's alternativefantasiesand the glamourof first-run
movie palaces. Local and global intersectionsbecame
clearer as Yuen-ling grew up, choosing first-runHolly-
wood theatersin the entertainmentcenter of Causeway
Bay, artfilms in smallhousesor film festivals,andproduc-
tions that she has seen while living abroad.Meanwhile,
theatersin Shau Kei Wan slowly have closed down. In
Hong Kong,films not only evoke questionsof postmodern
style (Teo 1997) anddisappearance(Abbas1997),butalso
participatein worlds of receptionand appropriationde-
fined by intersectionsbetween Chinese and colonials,
neighborhoodand urban development,martial arts and
Disney. Together,these reconstituteboth visual culture
andhybridurbanidentities.
Films also convey otherurbanmessages.As we drafted
this essay in 1999, for example,TheSixthSense,whichof-
fered many scenes of Philadelphia,became the highest-
grossingmovie in releaseworldwide,the numberone box
office drawin Spain,France,and the UnitedKingdomas
well as an Oscar-contenderin the United States. While
critics more often discussedits evocative story or turnto
the supernatural thanthe setting,for thosein GreaterPhila-
delphia,viewing also was accompaniedby a sense of rec-
ognition,of seeing local sites and citizens on the screen.
While some local criticslamentedthatthe film looks like it
was producedin collaborationwith the touristboard,other
viewers identifiedwith "our streets,""our supermarket,"
or the historicallessons of the city's past that hauntthe
film. This impactalso playedout on a widerscreen.Kevin
Feeley, spokesmanfor mayorEd Rendell,noted, "Phila-
delphiais photographedso beautifullyand with so many
people coming to see the movie it can't help but help us"
(Brown1999). Anothernewspaperquoteda "new"out-of-
townvisitoras testimonyto changingimagesandcommer-
cial impacts:" 'I alwaysthoughtPhiladelphiawas a crime-
ridden,rat-infested,mayor-torching-a-neighborhood hell-
hole. But when you see a movie like TheSixthSense with
its cosmopolitan settings, your image of Philadelphia
changes.... Oh, I've seen Rocky, I've seen Trading
Places, I've seen Witness,'he says. 'ButI was nevermoti-
vatedto come to Philadelphia untilI saw TheSixthSense'"
(Rickey 1999:Fl).
At the same time, the commitmentof the local writer/
director,M. Night Shyamalan,to continueproducingfilms
in the area bolsters an urbanculturalindustrythat has
broughtin $168 milliondollarssince 1992.Likeothercities
worldwide,Philadelphia'sfilm office workswithproducers
WONG AND MCDONOGH / THE MEDIATED METROPOLIS 97
to makethecity an accessiblesettingwhethertheresultis a
touristic panorama, a post-apocalypticvision (Twelve
Monkeys,1995), or the city disguisedas Cincinnati(Be-
loved, 1998). The goal is continuingvisibility.Indeed,in
late 2000, the PhiladelphiaInquirerproudlyreportedon a
locally born television star, Kim Delaney, slated for an
ABC dramaset in the city. As producerStevenBochco ex-
plained,"It'sKim's hometown.Thatputit in ourheadsto
beginwith. ... It's a cool Easterncity. It's got age. It's got
weather.It's got everythingthat'sgreataboutthe Eastex-
cept it's notbeen overexposed.It's not New York"(Shister
2000: D8).
Yet mainstreamproductions,while they broadcastim-
agery,often overlookimages and issues crucialto citizens
who find voice in narrowcastproductionsby publictelevi-
sion andcommunitygroups.These reframethe city in dif-
ferent imagery, issues, and audience. Such grassroots
worksmay have limitedappealbecauseof genre(nonfic-
tion films) or specificity of issues outside of theircity or
community,butthey underscorethe heterogeneousexperi-
ences of city andmediaas producers,text,andaudiences.
It may seem perplexingto begin an analysis of mass-
mediatedurbanvisualculturewithsocial memories,politi-
cal economicramifications,andglobal/localchoicesrather
thanimagesthemselves.As ethnographers andstudentsof
media,however,we arguethatholistic social andcultural
interpretation of urbanvisual culturesrepresentsa central
challenge to urban anthropologyas well as a key contribu-
tion for the disciplineto make in interdisciplinary discus-
sions. Visual representations of the city and of conflictive
aspects of urban life have existed for millennia:maps,
plans, paintings, architecture,ceramics, sculpture,and
other arts.They have been showcasedin museums,thea-
ters,andpublicspacesor in events,parades,andrituals.In
fact, these have alreadybecome standardsubjectsfor an-
thropologicalandsocial historicalinvestigation.In this ar-
ticle, ourprimaryconcernslie with mass andpopularvis-
ual media,includingfilm, television,video, andnews that
expand audiences,images, and interpretations-the city
observed,the city moving, the city seen synchronically
acrossspace,the interactivecity of websitesandmultime-
dia. Here, the disciplinestandsnearthe thresholdof new
analyticventuresandnew contributionsto urbanstudies.
To explorethis topic, we juxtaposework in two cities
withdifferentexperiencesof bothmediaandurbanism.Al-
though neitherhas the centralityof Hollywood or New
York as global media producers,Hong Kong has been a
capitalfor film productionintertwinedwith a stronglocal
image that has developed within a frameworkof limited
self-determination. As a colonial andpostcolonialcity that
nonethelessbecame an economic powerhousein produc-
tion, exchange, and consumption,its mass media offer
shimmeringvisions of a hybrid society, as Turnerand
Ngan have underscoredin Hong Kong60s/90s: Designing
98 * VOL. 103, No. 1 * MARCH2001
ANTHROPOLOGIST
AMERICAN
Identity(1996). Philadelphia,once a globalindustrialpow-
erhouse,has declinedin the late twentiethcentury.It also
participatesin a nation-stateand a nationalmarket(with
global reverberations)where productiondecisions have
been shapedby a New York-Hollywoodaxis. No one in
Philadelphia-auteur,productioncompany,film office, or
distributionchain-can claim to controlthe city's film im-
age in the same way thatHong Kong producersand dis-
tributorsdo for thatcity. HongKonghas a moredistinctlo-
cal identity,expressedin filmsprimarilyproducedforlocal
and regionalAsian audiences;Philadelphiais one pointin
a largermarketof signs,products,andaudiences.Yet their
experiencesallow us to discuss a rangeof intersectionsof
cinemaandcity while recognizingotherperspectivesyet to
be explored.'
While othercities might have been chosen to illustrate
the same processes, these are also cities where we have
lived, worked,researched,and participatedin the produc-
tion and receptionof images with an intimacythatallows
us to explorebothfilm andthe city in holisticterms.We do
not force parallel studies but, rather,use these cases to
comparecities in terms of creationand spectatorshipas
primaryexperiencesof mass mediation.Both examples,
moreover,sharetransnationalconnectionsthroughmedia
andcitizens.Thatis, Philadelphianshave envisionedHong
Kong throughglobal mass media(althoughwe only touch
on Americanvisionsin ourreferenceto moregeneralread-
ings of The Worldof Suzie Wong [see McDonogh and
Wong in press]). PhiladelphiaChinese, meanwhile,have
used visual mediato constructboth a Hong Kong identity
abroadand Americanidentities,often intersectingin the
same media(see Wong 1999b).These connectionsremind
us that mass media representa realm in which local and
global are constantlyrenegotiated,sometimes with pop-
corn.
Visual Culture and Urban Experience
Urbanvisual cultureincludes production,images, and
experiences that build upon each other as complex in-
tertexts.The iconic meaningsof the Eiffel Towerfor Paris
or IndependenceHall in Philadelphia,for example,were
constructedby travelers,critics,architects,and historians
before they became embeddedas a mythic shorthandfor
place in films fromHollywoodto Bollywood. Today,like
Hong Kong's new monumentalBank of Chinaand Hong
Kong and ShanghaiBank towers (Williams 1989), these
emblemscan be usedto defendlocal identity,sell develop-
mentsites, commentironicallyon local transformations, or
simply situatea plot developmentin films. Through texts
like JackBarth'sRoadsideHollywood,subtitledTheMovie
Lover'sState-by-StateGuideto Film Locations,Celebrity
Hangouts,CelluloidTouristAttractions,and More(1991),
spectatorscan map out a cinematicnation from Seattle,
Washington(It Happenedat the World'sFair, 1963; The
ParallaxView,1974;Streetwise,1984;TheFabulousBaker
Boys, 1989;etc.)to Baltimore(filmsof BarryLevinsonand
John Waters, among others; see Barth 1991: 25-28,
221-232). The meaningsof films andcities nonethelessdi-
verge between citizens who live with and re-createthese
cityscapesdailyandthosewho see themreproducedacross
nationalandglobalscreens.
Differentmeaningsalso reverberatethroughurbanvis-
ual cultureat the local level. Watchingthe evening news,
or readingthe newspaperthroughshorthandphotographic
images of "bad"or "elite"neighborhoods,how do we
know our own city? A friendbornand raisedin Philadel-
phia,for example,insistedthatTradingPlaces was his fa-
voritemovie for the city-"that anyonewouldknow those
houses are on the Main Line." While the film identifies
Philadelphia,this observationof universalityis more a
statementof local citizenshipthan global spectatorship-
which nonethelessmakesit important.Yet, whatdoes that
knowledgemean,amongandwithincities?Here,we must
be awareof what StephenFore (applyingJosephStraub-
haarto Hong Kong)has labeled"culturalproximity."That
is, for a starlike JackieChanbreakingintothe U.S. market,
stardomin Hong Kong evokes a distinctcontext:
InEastAsia,whereChanis already a majorstar,the"Chinese-
ness"of his personais, of course,morecloselyalignedwith
the culturalheritageand life of the averagemoviegoer,
whetherat a primarylevel of culturalproximity(for audi-
encesin HongKong,TaiwanandthePRC),orata secondary
level (for non-Chinese audiencesin Asiancountrieswhere
Hong Kong moviesare widelydistributed). In the United
States,though,wherethelevelof Chan'sChineseness is low,
New Linefounditself facedwitha doubledilemma.[Fore
1996:247]
As StephenTeo adds,"As JackieChanincreasinglytrains
his eyes on the internationalmarket,his personalitybe-
comes more pliable, more rubbery.This makes Chan's
charactersin his internationalfilms less distinctivelyChi-
nese, or even distinctivelyHongKong"(2000:6).
Beyond the cinema, of course,urbanvisual culturein-
cludes responsesas local as graffiti sprayedover urban
murals(or vice versa), as personalas criticalreadingsof
globalcinemaor expatriatenostalgiaandas widespreadas
social rejectionof a work as unreal,foreign,or dangerous,
or the lionizationof nativedaughtersandsons. Throughall
of these, film and othermass mediabecome incorporated
into debatesover urbanidentitiesamidlocal diversityand
on worldmediastagesin eventsandreadingsthatareoften
intertwined.Philadelphia,for example,celebratedthe year
2000 with a mass runup the steps of the Art Museum(in-
cludingthen-mayorEd Rendell), imitatinga well-known
scene from Rocky(1976). On almost any visit to the mu-
seum area, one sees touristsand residentsimitatingthis
cinematic image of resilience against a post-industrial
cityscape. Yet, local debate has raged for decades over
whetheror not this site is an appropriateplace for a statue

of Rocky. Moreover,this image does not always coincide
with elite strategiesto sell the city via high culture,history,
opportunity,or even as the "placethatloves you back."
At a moreintimatelevel, the institutionsand"places"of
mass visual culturethus createexperiencesof urbanciti-
zenship and public spheresbeyond elite norms. Miriam
Hansenhaseloquentlyarguedthis withregardto spectator-
ship, class, and genderin the nickelodeonsof New York
City:
Thenickelodeon wasa realplace,locatedin thecenterorthe
marginof theimmigrants' world,ordinary andeasilyaccessi-
ble.At thesametime,it openedupintoa fantasticspace,giv-
ing pleasurein thejuxtaposition of diverse,oftenincompat-
ible, and at timesimpossiblesites and sights-in the very
principleof disjunction thatinformedthe varietyformat....
Theaestheticsof disjunction notonlycontestedthepresumed
homogeneity of thedominant cultureandsocietyin thename
of whichimmigrants weremarginalized andalienated, more
it lent
importantly, the experience of disorientation
and dis-
theobjectivity of collectiveexpression.Itis in this
placement
sensethatthenotionof thecinemaas heterotopia converges
with the conceptof an alternative publicsphere-as a me-
diumthatallowspeopleto organizetheirexperiences on the
basisof theirown contextof living,of specificneeds,con-
flictsandanxieties.[1992:108].
Certainly,we mustbe carefulto distinguishamongme-
dia and experiencesin the constructionand readingof ur-
ban visual culture.Some visual mediaprove local in their
own way: architectureis simplynot easily transferablebut
takes on new meaningswithin mass media, as cities like
Barcelonaand Bilbaohave discoveredin the 1990s. Tele-
vision is both nationaland local. While some radio and
television networksor stationgroups send pre-packaged
formatsandprogramsall over the country,manylocal sta-
tions need to attractlocal audienceswith programmingon
mundane,yet popularissues like the weatherand sports.
They may serve as vehicles for discussionof the city al-
though they often risk becoming the purveyorsof dark
mythsto suburbanconsumers.The Internetis global,local,
andindividualistic,withdifferentpointsof production,dis-
tribution,andreception.Even so, while Amazon.commay
seem virtual,its warehousesare real and huge. All these
mediademandlocal centersfor globalproduction-maga-
zines, film, andtelevisionthatshapetheirpresenceandre-
ception.Hence, Los Angeles figuresprominentlyin "Hol-
lywood" because it includes Hollywood and offers a
convenientshootingstagealbeitone opento multipleinter-
pretations(see Davis 1998). No matterhow fast informa-
tion and images can overridethe restrainsof time and
space,humanbeingslive in realspaces,or places,andtime
even as they see throughmediatedimages.
Elements of urbanmass visual culture also underpin
competitionamong cities. Hence, Hong Kong celebrated
its 1997 handoverfromBritainto Chinawith 100 Days of
Cinema,its best knownmultimediaproduct,and its Film-
WONG AND MCDONOGH / THE MEDIATEDMETROPOLIS 99
Mart,which soughtto sell those productsabroad.Global
film starJackieChanhas featuredprominentlyin the Hong
Kong TouristAssociationwebsite. Othercities jockey to
gain such exposure(andprofits).The ChicagoFilm Office
(http://www.ci.chi.il.us/SpecialEvents/FilmsOffice/About.
html),for example,reportson its websitethat300 produc-
tions have left $730 million in the city, while "Chicagois
showcasedin film andtelevisionproductionsseen by mil-
lions all overthe world.Thishigh-profileexposurehelpsto
establishnew impressionsof the city and increaseglobal
awareness."In an era of mobile capital and information
flows, the image of the city that mass media use, create,
andextendtranslatesinto choicesof residence,production,
and development.Even small cities like Ocala, Florida,
proclaimthatthey are "camera-ready." At the same time,
critics worry that administratorslike Ed Rendell, con-
cerned with post-industrialimagery and marketing,may
have been transformingPhiladelphiaand othercities into
the "City as Disney extravaganzawith floats lit up by a
thousandpoints of light, the City increasinglyfashioned
anddesignednot for those who live withinit but for those
who neverwill"(Bissinger1997:371).
Within this global media web, however, not all cities
prove equal in salience,construction,or meanings.Some
have been home to productionas well as distribution:
Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Bombay,New York,and Paris
are global movie capitals.Others,while offeringa variety
of audiencesand spaces, are generallybackgroundrather
thanhomes to producerswho will interpretthem anew. In
these second cities, in fact, we must also pay attentionto
differentroles within the process of creatingfilm. Balti-
more,for example,while a smallercity thanPhiladelphia,
has been lovingly chronicledby two native sons-Barry
LevinsonandJohnWaters-whose films differin memory
andevocationfromthe use of the city as scenarioin Holly-
wood films. We must also note a rangeof broadcastand
morenarrowcastproductionsin whichtelevisionandvideo
expandthe worldof urbanimages,creatingmeaningsless
uniformthanthose of culturalindustries,especially as we
probe diverse readingsin everydaylife. Even so, we can
scarcely touch upon the issues raised by N6stor Garcia
Canclinifor cities inundatedwith foreignimagesof urban-
ity andmodernity(1999).
In the end, mass mediaand visualculturethus force us
to thinkaboutrelationsof powerandresistance.Who pro-
ducesimages?Who distributesthemandthroughwhatnet-
work?Who readsthem andunderwhatconstraints?Who
understandsandinterpretsomissions?TheSixthSense, for
example, lacks majorspeakingroles for African Ameri-
cans although they constitute a sizeable proportionof
Philadelphia'sresidents.How is this absencereadin a lo-
cal AfricanAmericanneighborhoodtheater?At the same
time, films focused on gang violence among African
Americans,like BoyzN theHood (1991) or New Jack City
100 AMERICAN * VOL. 103, No. 1 * MARCH2001
ANTHROPOLOGIST
(1991), confirmstereotypesamongsuburbanwhitereaders
and led mall theaterownersto avoid bookingsbecauseof
the actions they fearedfrom their audiences,reaffirming
the constructionof urbanAfricanAmericanyouthas a dis-
ruptiveforce(Baker1999).
This meshingof experienceand imageryalso forces us
to reconsiderthe complexity and contradictionsof urban
symbolism.Whilethe Eiffel Towermay "standfor"Paris,
especiallyin Hollywoodfilms, it omits manyelementsof
Parisiansociety and struggle. Even Jacques Tati in his
masterfulPlaytime(1967) evoked it as an elusive image
that tourists only glimpse on posters or in reflections
(BarthesandMartin1964;Ockman2000). As len Ang has
shown, readingsof the same text differ accordingto the
culturalandsocial formationof audiences(1985). Withre-
gardto Hong Kong,for example,we have arguedthatThe
WorldofSuzie Wong(1961) conjuresverydifferentmean-
ings and associationsoutside the city, and within Hong
Kong among expatriatesas opposed to Chinese citizens.
While fromthe outsideSuzie Wong fit popularOrientalist
imagesof an exotic female,subordinatedto a whiteknight,
Chinesepeople in Hong Kong contestedits linguisticand
racial verisimilitudeduring productionand ignored the
film subsequently.As Hong Kong becamea majorfinan-
cial power internationally,Suzie Wong became increas-
ingly irrelevantto locals.Nonetheless,theTouristAssocia-
tion still marketsHong Kong as Suzie Wong's abode to
outsiders(McDonoghandWong in press).
Previous anthropologicalstudies have already raised
importantquestionsaboutmass media,includingpioneer-
ing workby HortensePowdermaker(1950) on Hollywood
and Ian Jarvieon Hong Kong (1978). More recently,the
cinemasof SouthAsia have been the subjectof model in-
vestigationsof mass media and urbanculture,including
the workof SaraDickey (1993, 1997), CarolBreckenridge
(1995), PurnimaMankekar(1999), and TejaswaniGanti
(in press). Susan Ossman has proposeda more holistic
sense of urbanvisualculturein her PicturingCasablanca
(1994); Ron Burnett(1993), JeffreyHimpele(1996), Mark
Liechty(1996), ArjunAppadurai(1996), andBrianLarkin
(1997) all have raised compelling questions of ethno-
graphicandtransnational urbanreadings.Whilenot urban
in focus, EricMichaels'ssensitiveanalysesof the interac-
tions of culture and video among Australianaborigines
(1992) also have been models in our work.2At the same
time, we realizethatthe studyof urbanvisualcultureis an
interdisciplinaryfield in which anthropologicalmethods
and theoriesmust share.Here, for example,film theorists
and historiansoffer ethnographicinsightsincludingthose
of MiriamHansen(1992) on silentfilm andthe creationof
new urbanpublicspheres;David Clarke(1992) andMark
Lamster's (2000) collections on film and urban form;
Turner and Ngan (1996), Law Kar and Stephen Teo
(1997), Law Kar(1999), Li Cheuk-To(1996, 1997),Linda
Lai (1997), StephenTeo (1997, 2000), David Bordwell
(2000), StephenFore (1996, 1999), and others on Hong
Kong film; andDavidDocherty,David Morrison,andMi-
chael Tracey(1987), DavidMorley (1996), JudithMayne
(1993), GraemeTurner(1997), andmanyotherson specta-
torship.Our interesthere, however, is not to review vol-
umes of generalstudieswith which we feel urbananthro-
pology intersects,but to underscorethe contributionsof
anthropologyto this establisheddebate.Hence we turnto
ourown materials.
The Electric City:
Experiencing Films in Hong Kong
Hong Kong filmmakingand viewing emergedwith the
earliest days of cinematographicinnovation worldwide
(Hong Kong Film Archives 1997). After the Chinese
Revolutionof 1949,Hong Kongfilmmaking,like otherin-
dustries,was infusedwithcapital,expertise,andpersonnel
fromShanghaiandfromotherChinesewho fled the Com-
munistregime.The presenceof Chinesefromdifferentre-
gions, speakingdifferentChinese tongues, contributedto
the growthof a multilingualChinesefilm industrybasedin
the territorywhose productionsreached a peak of 676
films and videos in 1996 (Hong Kong Reports 1997:319;
Teo 1997). While this is an extraordinary level of produc-
tion for a territoryof 6.5 million inhabitants,the industry
fed an EastAsianmarketas well as an internationalmarket
of Chinesediaspora.Hong Kong kung-fufilms also found
cross-culturalmarketingsuccess from Nepal to Africa to
the Americas.MarkLiechty,for example,refersto the im-
portanceof "English"films amongurbanyouthsin Kath-
mandu,citingpicturesby BruceLee (1996:123).
This powerof cinemadid not escapethe attentionof the
colonial government,whichtook films by truckto refugee
settlementsin the 1950s and built cinemas in large-scale
public housing estates even as they exercised censorship
and othercontrolson local distribution.Hong Kong also
becamethe firstBritishcolony to receivetelevisionvia ca-
ble in 1957, creatinganothervenue for negotiatingimage
andcontrol.
By the 1980s and 1990s, "Hong Kong Style" even
changedHollywoodactionflicks. Directorsand starshave
been recruitedfor big budget productionsin the United
States from John Woo's Face-Off (1998) to Chow Yun-
Fat's starringrole in Annaand the King (1999) on a stage
set in Malaysia (another visual-spatial displacement).
Meanwhile,HongKongfacedits own transitionfromBrit-
ish colony to autonomousregionwithinthe Chinesestate.
Hong Kongmoviegoingas social appropriation of mov-
ies also has changedin recentdecadesof economicdevel-
opmentand hybridizationof global consumptionpatterns.
Those from whom we collected stories about neighbor-
hood theatersand family picnics in cinemas of the 1960s
were morelikelyto go as adultsin the 1990sto sleek multi-
plexes associatedwith commercialcentersthroughoutthe

city, symbolsof the new andsuccessfulHongKongandits
consumption(Turnerand Ngan 1996). These same years
have witnessedincreasingconcernsaboutlocal audiences.
While moreHong Kong theatersarebuilteach year,audi-
ences droppedfrom98 millionin 1967 (fora populationof
3.7 million) to 20 million in 1999 (for 6.9 million). The
marketsfor Cantonesefilms, highly audience-driven com-
modities, have especially suffered. Competition from
video, laserdisc, VCD, andDVD as well as televisionrep-
resentsa long-standingconcern,but saggingqualityin lo-
cal productionsalso has been blamedfor lower box office
revenues.Film producershave adaptedtheir productto
perceivedconsumption,distributorshave slashed prices,
and theatershave createddiscountdays to amelioratethis
crisis.
These experiences are hardly unique to postcolonial
Hong Kong. Indeed, while the models for contemporary
cineplexes,theirconcessions,and theirHollywoodtie-ins
betrayAmericanmarketing,similarconsumptionis shared
in BuenosAires, Barcelona,andPhiladelphia.Yet an eth-
nographyof moviegoing as urbanexperienceilluminates
distinctionsand contradictionsin Hong Kong visual cul-
ture and everydayconsumption.Local and global mean-
ings of the cinemabeyondthe screen-including architec-
ture, ambience, prestige and choice of product,shared
clientele and experiences, and even food-also have
shapedHong Kongmovies since theirfirstpublicperform-
ances. As we have noted in ethnohistoricalresearchsince
1996, the choice of site, company,images,andexperience
also havereconstructed divisionswithinmetropolitansoci-
ety. These include colonialcaste andethnicity,divisionsof
class andmobility,and otherconstructionsof age, gender,
culturalcapital,and the city itself. While the image of the
city is compellingin Hong Kongfilms, so is the experience
of that image and its alternativesand their incorporation
intoeverydaylife andidentity.
Even aftercolonialruleendedin 1997,long-standingdi-
visions between an English-speakingaudience (British,
American,and other expatriatesand Chinese bilinguals)
and Chinese speakers,who make up 98% of the popula-
tion, remain clear in the territory'smore than 60 daily
newspapers.English-languagenewspaperadvertisements
list less thanhalf of the screeningsin the territoryadver-
tised in the Chinese press. English-languageadvertise-
mentshave focussedon first-runtheaterswith comfortable
decor, easy parking,and affiliationwith local chains and
internationaldistribution.These theatershave also tended
to be associatedwith business/entertainment centers:no
cinemasemergedin areasidentifiedwith colonialresiden-
tial districtslike the Peakor Stanley.First-runtheaterpal-
aces also have reliedon Chinesepatronsand advertisein
Chinese dailies as well. Some English-speakingpatrons,
meanwhile, go to predominantlyChinese theaters for
Hong Kongmovies.Yet the contrastin publicityshowsthe
WONGANDMCDONOGH
/ THEMEDIATED
METROPOLIS101
divisions of imagined and communicativecommunities
still perceivedto exist (drawingon Anderson1991).
The intermediary populationsof colonialsociety,mean-
while, developed otherviewing habits.Withits economic
boom, for example, Hong Kong has become home to
170,000 contracted domestic workers,80% of whom are
from the Philippinesand primarilyfemales who residein
the homes of their employers(Hong Kong Report 1998:
122; Constable1997). Accordingto those with whom we
talked,they generallydid not go to movies unless shep-
herdingtheiremployer'schildren:cinema was expensive
by contrastto Filipinoprices and maids lackedfree time.
On the otherhand,businessesand informalarrangements
cateredto Filipinoswho gathereddowntownon theirday
off with a lively tradein Filipinovideos.By the late 1990s,
Filipino cable stationswere also availablefor home con-
sumption:hence,an expatriatevisualculturerelinkingim-
migrantsto the Philippinesemergedin culturaldistinction
to bothHong KongandHollywood.
The longerestablishedandmoreintegratedSouthAsian
populationattendedbothEnglish and Chinesecinemasas
well as maintainingspecializedvideo outletsfor Hindiand
other films. An informantalso reportedthat they rented
halls for special showings of Indian cinema that also
servedmultiplecommunityfunctions:
SouthAsianMoviesarescreenedin theHKConvention Cen-
tre at leastonce a monthfor about$100-150HK ($13-20
US).I personally haveneverbeento onebecauseyoucanget
the samemoviea weeklateron tapefor $10 HK.Mostof
thesemoviesarecommercial filmsnotevendocumentariesor
SatyajitRay movieswhichis a real shamebecauseRay's
moviesareexcellent.Moreover, thesefilmscreenings
arean-
otherformof socialgatherings-"Oh,lookwhosheis with,a
new man?"
Cinemasin Hong Kong also must be differentiatedin
termsof genre,with concomitantimplicationsof class and
otherdivisions attachedto the textualimageryon screen
and some implicationsfor the space of spectators.Apart
fromthe first-runtheaters,cinemasoutsidethe mainstream
also specializein artfilms andpornography.The domesti-
cationof children'scinema,in turn,underscoressociocul-
turalchangesin the urbanfilmgoingexperienceovertime.
Art cinemas,in fact, share many characteristicsacross
culturesthatwe know as filmgoers.Hong Kong's Broad-
way Cinematheque,in its name, expresso bar, intensive
verbal materialson currentofferings, and other features,
would not be unfamiliarin Philadelphiaor Buenos Aires.
In fact, artcinemasin Hong Kong tend to offer the same
global programmingfound elsewhere to a self-selected
cosmopolitanclientele defined by "tastes"that roam far
outsideHongKong.Culturalproximityis relative,however.
The intellectualworks of Wong Kar-Waiare regardedas
difficultin HongKong,buttheyplayin mainstream theaters
ratherthanbeing relegatedto art houses by the equation
102 AMERICAN * VOL. 103, No. 1
ANTHROPOLOGIST * MARCH2001
of art = foreign thatdominatesin the United States (Fore
1996). "Serious" films, including local documentaries
and community-basedworks, are also treated as civic
goods, screened in cultural centers, museums, and the
Hong Kong International FilmFestival.In fact,artcinema,
worldwide, evokes a strategyof hypermodernitywhose
manifestationsin cinemas and festivals meritmore atten-
tion (see Wong andMcDonoghin presson the Film Festi-
val).
Pornographiccinema also evokes seemingly "univer-
sal"characterizations of theaterandaudience.In manycit-
ies, these theatersdemarcatedistrictswhose characterre-
verberateswith the perceivedimmoralityof the product
and experience. In Hong Kong, this programminghas
tended to representthe last phase of decaying neighbor-
hood cinemas. Some other "neighborhood" cinemas also
run special 10 a.m. showings of Hong Kong, Japanese,
European,and Americanpornographybefore their more
family-orientedevening screenings.The social construc-
tion of watchingpornographymadethis screeningvulner-
able to competitionfrom videos and otherforms of more
privatespectatorship.
Children'scinema per se lacks specific venues in the
city. Chinese cinemagoingin the 1950s and 1960s was
strongly associated with family involvement in Hong
Kong films ratherthancateringto specific pre-adolescent
audiences;Hong Kong studios, in fact, have rarelypro-
duced specializedchildren'sfilms in the sense of Disney,
Dreamworks,or the JapaneseTotorroor Pokemon.In the
1990s, we observeda continualdisjuncturebetween two
kinds of children's cinematic participation.On the one
hand,films such as Disney's Hercules(1997) and Tarzan
(1999) have become consumptionevents at multiplexes
that offer Cantonese and English versions on multiple
screensandlead easily to a HappyMeal with relevanttoys
at a nearbyMcDonald'samidfurthersynergisticpurchases
(games,dolls, CD-ROM,etc.). On the other,video, DVD,
and video compactdisc (VCD) have also createda sepa-
rate, familiar sense of children's viewing in the home,
alone or with friends. Yet, these changes also suggest
changes in relationof family and public spherethat may
becomeevidentin the next generation(see Leung 1990 on
familyandthe publicsphere).
Despite the formativeimpact of social categoriesand
genres, the primarydivision in space and experiencein
Hong Kong moviegoing since its inception cuts across
these categoriesas it re-createsthem. This is the division
betweenthe oldercinemapalace(and,since the 1970s, the
multiplex)andthe neighborhoodtheateras Chinesepopu-
larcinemacenters.
The film palaceoften modeledmodernityon the image
of the West in architectureand services.The Lee Theater,
for example,was copied fromLondon'sHaymarketThea-
ter. The downtown King's Theater, opened in 1931,
boastednot only its constantsupplyof Hollywoodfeatures
in its inauguralpamphletbutalso its decorandtechnology.
This technology included not only projectiondevelop-
mentsbut also air-conditioningto set the experienceapart
from steamystreets(and neighborhoodtheaters).Finally,
the pamphletalso noted thatthe interiorwas designedby
the same firm thathad decoratedthe governor'smansion
(King's Cinema1931).A laterbilingualfolio for the 1952
opening of Kowloon's Princess Theater underscoreda
similarconjunctionof "thesplendourof its exteriorstruc-
ture and the beautifulfountainin the lobby,"a car park,
"scientifically-tested chairs,"and"onlyselectandfirst-rate
productionsof majorstudiosthroughoutthe world,espe-
cially those of R.K.O. Radio Pictures,ParamountFilms,
ColumbiaFilms,etc"(1952[?]:n.p.).
These grandioseedifices did not, however,limit them-
selves to "English"audiences,althoughtheirhigherprices
anddemandsof dressanddecorumselectedfor attendance
in termsof class and urbanity.OlderChinesewith whom
we spoke,includingWong's parents,rememberedthemas
sites for datingandspecialoccasions.Instead,the coloniz-
ers foundthemselvesin gildedmonolingualcages without
the easy experienceof a rangeof Chinese-languagealter-
nativesin movies andvenues.
Most of these cinemashave now disappeared,although
this does not indicatea socioculturalrevolutionin Hong
Kong classes or tastes. Instead, their claims on space
provedtoo expensive in the booming propertymarketof
the city. Already,in 1978, Jarvienoteda shiftin cinematic
space:
Within the cities, the cinemas concentratedthemselves
aroundthetwinentertainment centres:CausewayBayon the
IslandandNathanRoadin Kowloon.Thenumbersin outly-
ing areaslike Aberdeen,WesternDistrictandNorthPoint
havebeensteadilyshrinking. wereclosedand
Severaltheatres
demolished duringmyfivemonths'fieldtripin 1973,includ-
ing the Princess,in NathanRoad,the HongKongGrand,in
Queen'sRoadEast,and the delightfullittle Ray, in Third
StreetneartheUniversity. Buton theotherhand,newtheatres
andevennewtheatreconceptswereabuilding. [1978:61-62]
As real estate boomed in Central,and then, in the 1970s
and 1980s, in Wanchaiand CausewayBay, oldertheaters
became liabilities,dismantled,and only occasionallyre-
constructedin pieces on multiplefloors withina new sky-
scraperlike the Lee Theatre.Indeed,the cinema may be
rememberedonly in a vague allusion, like the Entertain-
ment(Lo Yuk)Building,whichreplacedthehistoricKing's
Theatre.
The 1983 Hong Kong Annual Reportnoted that "Al-
thougha numberof cinemasclosed downduringthe yeara
new trendof mini-cinemasstartedwith the openingof a
three-in-onemini-cinemacomplex"(p. 194). In advertise-
ments, these emerged as identifiablefeaturesin the late
1980s andearly 1990s, withthe initialconsolidationof the
United Artists (UA) chain. By 1990, for example, links
among cinemas in various parts of GreaterHong Kong

appearedin newspaperadvertisementsand film distribu-
tion. This trendagainparallelsdevelopmentin the United
States and Europe,markinga suburbanization of theaters,
which, while not necessarilyeliminatingan urban core,of-
fered similar services at more convenientcentralpoints.
Both Hollywood and Cantoneseofferingsnow respondto
the decentralizationof populationwithin new towns like
Sha Tin and Tuen Mun. At the same time, multiplexes
have moved to consumptioncenters,amid stores and fast
food services like McDonald's(see Watson 1997) or the
local fast food of Caf6de Coral.
This shift to multiplexescoincidedin interestingways
with growing strengthin Hong Kong filmmakingduring
the boom of the 1970s and 1980s,the eraof the New Wave
(Law 1999). Hong Kong films regainedbox office pri-
macy domestically and expanded in overseas markets
throughstrategicinterventionsincluding participationin
film festivalandartistcircuitsas well as majorcommercial
circuits (Leung and Chan 1997:146; Li 1996). Major
worksby Tsui Hark,JohnWoo, andRingo Lambuiltcon-
tinuing reputationsalongsidethe more artisticcareersof
Wong Kar-Waiand Ann Hui. New patternsof exhibition
spaces and distributionmeantthatHong Kong andHolly-
wood films are screenedside by side in new worlds of
choice, which may even have sustainedsome Hong Kong
projectsor allowedthema wideraudience.
Whathave all these changesmeantfor the consumer's
experienceof cinema?New multiplexesoffermoreameni-
ties of consumption-rangingfrombettersoundand seats
(withoutelaboratedecor)to choiceamongmultiplemovies
at the same site. They may also imply moreuniformityal-
beit wider distributionof limited offerings. An alarmed
commentfrom the FrenchCahiersdu Cinema,for exam-
ple, warnsthat"themultiplex-mega complexesof movie
houses near commercialcenters-are flourishingevery-
where in Francenear large centers,tendingto make cin-
ema a banalproductfor consumption"(Pardo1997:60,our
translation).Movies,to sucha critic,becomenot anexperi-
ence in themselvesbutanotherchoice in the mall.
Data on the experienceof cinema since the 1980s pro-
vide us with interestingsupportfor this view. A Hong
Kong Universitystudentwho recalledlocalismandfamily
in her childhoodmemories,when asked aboutplaces she
regularlywent in the 1990s, quicklyreplied:"UA Times
Square or Queensway. Because they're newer. Newer.
And they show the kind of movies I wantto see. And my
friendsgo there."Anotherstudentalso denigratedthe ex-
perienceof Chinese movie theaters:"Theyshow Chinese
movies so I am dealingwith the samereality.And thenthe
sound effects and the image effects are not so good as
UA." Still anotherspontaneouslyvaluedthe consumption
featuresof the multiplex:"Thereare six movies to choose
from ... and it's comfortable." With a dramatic drop in
spectatorship,the flexibility of many smallertheatersbecame
WONGANDMCDONOGH/ THEMEDIATED
METROPOLIS 103
a strategyfor ownersas well as consumers(MingPao, July
13, 1997). Yet, these cinemasalso respond,on the whole,
to more narrowlytargetedconstructionsof the typical
viewer andproduct.As affluence,maturity,and education
becamemorewidespreadby the 1990s,this facilitatednew
dimensionsand choices in movie consumption.Perhaps
nowhereis this relationshipbetweenthe affluentconsumer
and the multiplexmodel laid out betterthanin The Place
magazine(1991-1994), publishedby the Swire Company
to sell its investmentin the upscale Pacific Place mall.
Here,amidads for glamorousmultinationalmerchandisers
like Seibu, Montblanc,GianniVersace,andHermes,were
interviewswith cinema personalitiesor featuresdetailing
Hong Kong links with Hollywood, accompaniedby pre-
views for the mall's UA multiplex.Shoppingfor movies
looks moreandmorelike shoppingfor any othergoods.
The primaryalternativeto cinema palaces for many
Hong Kong Chinesefilmgoersof the postwarperiodwere
cheaper,local structureslike thosedescribedby Yuen-ling.
Theatersthroughoutthe olderChinesesettlementsof Hong
Kong once offerednot only a continuallychanginground
of second-and third-runmovies, but also escape from the
crampedand crowdedconditionsof postwarhousing. In
bothproductandexperience,they reaffirmedthe identities
of smallercommunities.Neighborhoodcinemas were fa-
miliar; moreover,they had other attributes,as a Hong
Kong University studentrecalled:"Therewere a lot of
hawkersin the theatrehall. We'd buy a lot of thingsandgo
into the movie.In fact,it was the mostinterestingthing,the
most attractivethingfor me in going to movies.Becauseas
a childyou don'tunderstandthe moviethatmuch."Yet by
1978 comments,these theaterswere sufferingthe fate of
centralpalaces,reducingHong Kong'stotaltheatersto 79.
Again, this has resulted from many factors including
neighborhoodredevelopment,family mobility,new hous-
ing, andcompetitionfrom multiplexesand alternateme-
dia.
Thedisappearance of neighborhood/working-class thea-
ters has not markedthe end of Hong Kong Chinese cin-
ema. Whenwe askedfriendsand movie specialistsfor the
most "authentic"Hong Kong viewing experiencein the
1990s, we were directedto late night showingsfor young
audiencesat large popularhouses in the urbanentertain-
mentcenters.In Kowloon,for example,the Chinachemin
the popularnightlifearea of Tsim Sha Tsui East offers a
lively mixtureof ChineseandWesternmovies with shows
runningcontinuallythroughoutthe nightto lively crowds.
Whilethese andsimilartheatreshadcharacteristicfood,
ambience,and noise levels, they are not unlike showings
that appealedto similarage groupsin the United States:
one mightconsiderthe ambienceandmythof drive-incul-
tureas a comparison.The impactof theyouthfulconsumer
has been reinforcedby fan magazines like Milky Way
Journal(NganHauWahPao) sincethe 1950s.Young stars
104 AMERICAN * VOL. 103, No. 1 * MARCH2001
ANTHROPOLOGIST
today seek multipleexposureacrossAsia in rockconcerts,
television,andcommercialsas well as movie events;their
photos are for sale and theirlives and loves fill fan maga-
zines. As in the UnitedStatesandEurope,this audience,its
enthusiasm,and its buying power have spurredmarket-
drivenproductionslike the young gang movies of the later
1990s, which Hong Kong producersspeedilyreproduced.
To cash in on the success of Youngand Dangerous(Gu
WakJai, 1996), for example,Youngand DangerousH and
III were shot and releasedin the same year, with another
sequelfollowingin 1997 (Li 1997).
Althoughgenerallyin denseChineseurbandistrictslike
Mongkok or Wanchairatherthan malls, these large, di-
vided theatresseemed to overlapwith both neighborhood
theatresand new chains.In none of our visits, moreover,
did audiencesshow the legendaryspiritfor whichthey are
famous in Hong Kong-talking back to the screen or
throwingthingsat it, apartfrom some illegal smokingand
louder conversationthan would be permittedin a multi-
plex. Marketingcampaignslike the reducedticketsforteen
movies or the two-for-one lovers tickets that were at-
temptedat variouspoints remindedus in fact that these
were audiencesfor whom Chinesetheatrescompetedwith
more glamorouschains.While these theatersmightshare
actionpicturesor high-profilestarsanddirectorswith mul-
tiplexes,however,they also retainedpossessionof several
intensely local genres includingromancesand comedies,
which, as Lai (1997) argues,often performan extremely
local identityunlikelyto pull in crossoveror foreignaudi-
ences.
Obviously, this story of film as experience might be
elaboratedthroughanalyses of the roles we have men-
tioned for television and for home-viewing devices, in-
cluding VCRs, DVDs, and VCDs, which make cheap pi-
rate copies of currentlyplaying films available almost
instantly,againcomplicatingthe economicsof citizenship.
Moreover,we might talk in more detail aboutchangesin
image and content(see Wong and McDonogh in press).
Yet, at the same time, the urbanvisual cultureof Hong
Kong should also be seen beyond the city and territory.
Film in HongKonghas alwaysbeen a globalphenomenon.
As such, in the Chinese diaspora,film and its reproduc-
tions and commentaryhave complementedotherfamiliar
institutionsof urban identity ranging from food stores,
churches,and restaurantsto regionalassociationsto for-
eign-languagenewspapers.Globalismalso createsnew lo-
calisms. Movies, videos, and television provide Chinese
and otherswith connectionsto theirhomelandand places
of identityin theirnew urbanworlds. Hong Kong videos
provide familiarexperiences,whetheror not immigrants
came fromHongKong.
In Philadelphia, forexample,Chinesemovieswereshown
theatricallyin the 1990s only at midnighton Saturdaysin an
outletmall multiplex(theymovedin 2000 to anotherthea-
ter in NortheastPhiladelphia). Xeroxedannouncements are
plasteredon Chinatownwalls; only recently have they
been addedto the generalmovie listingsof local alternative
papers.Dependingon the popularityof the film and its
stars, attendanceranges from about 40 to 1,000; some
films (like those of JackieChan)also show up in compet-
ing mainstreamvenues.This screeninghas become a cen-
ternot only for Chinesebutalso for otherAsian andAsian
Americanadolescents.
This dearthof targetedtheatricalscreenings,however,
does not reflect Asian-Americanconsumption. Video
stores dot the streetsof Chinatown;smallerrentalcollec-
tions arejammedinto the cranniesof food and stationary
shops. Most serve a predominantlyChinese clientele:
manyprogramsareavailableonly in Chinese,while clients
and clerksgenerallyare morefluentin ChinesethanEng-
lish. Hong Kong videos are also availablein otherAsian
ethnic video stores:thus,Cambodianand Vietnameseim-
migrantsin Philadelphiarent dubbedHong Kong videos
from theirown neighborhoodstores.In this sense, again,
Hong Kong movie andcassettedistributionalreadyhasbe-
come Americanized(see Wong 1999b).
Technology changes time as well as space; television
programsas well as featurefilms travelfrom Hong Kong
to Americain a matterof days, whethertheatricalhits or
events like the Miss Hong Kong pageant.Movies become
availableas soon as videodiscs are sold in Hong Kong,
dubbedinto NTSC/VHStapes.Accordingto storeowners,
however,immigrantsprefertelevisionprogramspackaged
as cassettesto featuremovies. The most populartapes are
those of soap operas,historicalromances,and action se-
ries. These productions,if successful, run for a year or
more in Hong Kong (e.g., the recent Genuine Feelings
[Jun Ching]). The latestadditionto Hong Kong transna-
tional visual cultureis satellite,which allows the house-
hold to receive programmingfrom Taiwan, Mainland
China,andTVB Jade,the majorHong KongChinesetele-
vision channel.Not only is this a familiarexperienceof
watchingwell-knownshows in a familiarlanguage,but it
also reinforces cultural proximity: as one friend said,
"whenI see the fire in Lai Chee Kwok,I called my friends
and relatives right away." Yet new connections are
stressed:"My fathercomes to my house more often now,
he likes to watchsatelliteprograms,and my kids' Chinese
is gettingbetter."
Middle-classfamilieswho have installedthisdish rarely
rentvideos anymore.However,exceptfor news programs,
Jade does not permit direct, instantaneoustransmission
from Hong Kong, tryingto controla rentalmarketchal-
lengedby those who tapefromsatellitebroadcastsandex-
change the productsamong friends,reconstructinga vir-
tual"neighborhood" of viewingandcommentary.
In these ways, Hong Kong films and television go be-
yond entertainment to reconstitutean urbanimmigrantvis-
ual culture.These audienceshave the culturalcompetence
to read these texts, both in language and in intertextual

referencesthatarevery culturallybounded.This desirefor
connectednesswith a homelandis also marketedsuccess-
fully by TVB, who controlsthe largestChinese-language
television programmingin the world. Immigrantslearn
about show business news from ethnic newspapersand
glossy magazinesand rent the videos to see the latesthot
stars or society events. They also exchangetapes among
themselves and constructconversationsaroundthese fa-
miliar topics, and they transmitcontemporaryChinese
popularcultureto the younger,oftentimesAmerican-born
second generation.Yet these consumersof Hong Kong
film and video are no less cosmopolitanthantheir Hong
Kong counterparts.Indeed, althoughthere is no way to
gatherconcretedata,discussionswith friendsin the Phila-
delphia Chinese communitysuggest that Titanic or The
SixthSense was just as popularwith Chinesehere as with
otherAmericans.The differencein audiencethen,in both
areas,is not so much in what they choose to see or how
they evaluateit butin the arrayof meaningstheyconstruct,
and intertextsthey use, in which Hong Kong media and
Americanproductionsarebothcomponents.This symbio-
sis, in fact,underpinsHong Kongcinemaandaudiences,at
home andin diaspora,althoughthe contextof mobilityand
quests for culturalidentitychange the meaningsof view-
ings in each case as well as across othermedia channels
like radioandtelephone.
EclecticCity:
Creating and Reading Images in Philadelphia
In contrastto Hong Kong, Philadelphiahas not been a
centerfor film productionin the UnitedStates,despitethe
pioneeringwork of SiegmundLubin, self-styledKing of
the Movies who establishedhis Lubinvillestudiosin North
Philadelphia(Eckhardt1997). Yet over time, the city was
certainlya center in other ways for images. With Curtis
Publishingselling the SaturdayEveningPost withits Nor-
manRockwellcovers,Philadelphiashapeda globalimage
of Americanlife (Friedrich1970;HennesseyandKnutson
1999).World'sFairsandothereventsbroughtrecurrentat-
tentionto the city. Indeed,patriotichistoryimpressedupon
Americanschoolchildrenand visitorsfromabroadthe im-
ages of IndependenceHall andthe LibertyBell as symbols
of a city and the nation,albeit one trappedin and by its
past. Philadelphia,moreover,remainsthe fifth largestna-
tionaltelevisionmarketandan importantpointon national
film distribution.Yet, how does a city without Hong
Kong's marketpositionin the productionof urbanfilmic
images negotiatethese images to its own diverseresidents
as well as to those who live outsidethe metropolitanarea?
We approachthisby lookingat textualimagesof thecity in
mainstreamfilms in relationto local experienceand nar-
rowcastmediathatconstructthe visualcity, notonly as im-
ages, butalso as placeswhereproducersandaudiencelive.
WONG
ANDMCDONOGH
/ THEMEDIATED
METROPOLIS105
As a large city with an identifiablename, Philadelphia
has takenon a protagonisticrole in repeatedmovies,espe-
cially with regardto space and class. The Philadelphia
Story(1940), for example,franklyignoredthe city to focus
on the affluentsuburbanMainLine in a storypatternedon
the actuallife of a local socialite.Theseimagesof class and
conflicthave a longerhistoryin Philadelphiaandits repre-
sentationsincludethe melodramaticKittyFoyle (novel by
ChristopherMorley; movie 1940); The YoungPhiladel-
phians (1959), which again pits the hidden histories of
Main Line elites againstthe virility of the working-class
city; or Hitchcock'sMarnie(1964), which plays out class
issues betweenthe MainLine (perhaps)andworking-class
Baltimore.TradingPlaces (1983) recastsclass andracein
a rarecomic portrait,while the disappointingDowntown
(1990) bringsa MainLinepolicemaninto the hardscrabble
city. Tom Hanks,in Philadelphia(1993), plays a lawyer
who grewup in theMainLine,has a gay relationshipin the
city where he works, and is redeemed by an African
Americanattorneyfromthe urbanelite's prejudiceagainst
AIDS. Even CitizenKane (1941) uses Philadelphiaas a
site for the libraryof the stodgy lawyer who controlled
Kane'sinheritance.3
Class,ethnicity,andspacealso permeateone of themost
successfuland emblematicPhiladelphiamovies, in terms
of box office receiptsandimpact:Rocky(1976), whose re-
lationto thecity is as complexas thatof TheWorldof Suzie
Wongto Hong Kong. In this movie and its sequels,South
Philadelphia,a working-class,ItalianAmericanneighbor-
hood (now increasinglypopulatedby SoutheastAsians),
and othersectionswerebroughthome to otherpartsof the
United Statesand the world as symbols of personalresil-
ience. This geographyhas permeatedotherfilms as well:
Two Bits (1996) romanticizedSouth Philadelphiain the
Depression, while The Sixth Sense contrasteda homey
South Philadelphiawith the cultured Society Hill and
Center City. Twelve Monkeys (1995), meanwhile, used
Kensington,anotherworking-classneighborhoodfacing
devastatingtransformations, to presenta near-apocalyptic
world not unlike a stereotypicallocal news reporton the
"Badlands,"a familiarurbancliche of decay, racism,and
despair.Local documentarieslike PovertyOutlaw(1998),
in fact,directlycontestthis imageof Kensington.
These movies createpowerfulintertextsfor the city as a
setting,partlyforits shortcutidentificationof some formof
class, racial,or ethnicidentificationsfor Hollywood.Other
issues also ariserepeatedlywithinthese films, includinga
vague sense of a historiccity hauntedby past sins. While
vivid in the contemporaryTheSixthSense, one mightalso
recall the voice-over first lines of The YoungPhiladel-
phians: "A man's life, they say, is the sum of all his ac-
tions. But the actions are sometimes the results of the
hopes, dreams,anddesiresof those who came beforehim.
In that sense, my life began even before I was born...."
106 AMERICAN * VOL. 103, No. 1
ANTHROPOLOGIST * MARCH2001
This foreshadowsthe web of impotence,illegitimacy,and
concealmentunraveledlaterin themovie.Yet memoryand
corruptionare equally presentin TerryGilliam's adapta-
tion of La Jetie to a Philadelphiasettingfor TwelveMon-
keys andMarnie-a mythicthemethatraisesthe question
of cinema as the creatorof moralas well as visual land-
scapes.
While one may arguefor a Hollywood-createdmyth of
the city, as distinctfromcosmopolitanNew York,political
Washington,or the decadenceof the South (McDonogh
and Wong 1993), others choose Philadelphiafor other
morepragmaticreasons.TheSixthSense's writer-director
M. Night Shyamalan,for example,was bornandraisedin
the MainLine, andone newspaperreports:
Thesuburban Catholicschoolhe attended-and
Philadelphia
its groomedlawnsandhistoricstonebuildings-wasthe site
of his secondmovie. The downtowntrainstationthathe
walksthroughregularlyon the way to New Yorkwill be a
centralpartof his upcomingfilm.Anda littleknownSouth
Philadelphia streetshowcasingthecloseproximityof neigh-
borhoodrowhousesopenshis currentblockbuster, TheSixth
Sense.
"I live here,my experiencescome fromhere,so I make
moviesthatare set here,"said M. NightShyamalan, who
jokesabouthis obsessionforfilmingin Philadelphia. "Iwas
in talksto write'Planetof theApes'theremakeforFoxandI
was like, 'Howcan I placethisin Philadelphia?' " [Brown
1999]
To the world outside of Philadelphia,the setting seldom
has the prominencethat local readersaccordit, as is evi-
dent in the lack of analysisby film critics. For example,
when reviewingThe SixthSense, criticsmentionedPhila-
delphia in passing or neglect it altogether.Another re-
viewer in Tucsonplaced TwoBits in Chicago.Outsideof
the UnitedStates,less criticalreadersidentifythe city with
America,withoutseeking local or nationaldistinctions,in
the same way Hong Kong films becomeChineseor Asian
despitetheirpreponderant urbanindustryand local flavor
(Fore1996;Wong 1999b).
These issues of themes, whether complimentaryor
negative,used or rejectedin the city, illuminatea not insig-
nificantissue of whatit meansfor citizensandofficials to
dealwithmassimage.In HongKong,thisemergesthrougha
conjunctionof shared culture, shared experiences, and
sharedresourcesin filmmakingratherthan throughany
governmentintervention.In Philadelphia, withoutthe same
localizationof production,finance, and significantaudi-
ence, otherquestionsemerge. The local film office does
nothavethe resourcesto sell a particularimageof the city;
instead, it works to attractfilmmakersby the ease with
which they may workaroundpermits,police, settings,etc.
The only reticencethe office noted,in fact, involvedpor-
trayalsof the police, who have had a controversialurban
historyand seriouslynegativemass mediaportrayals,fic-
tionalandnonfictional.Localfilmmakers likeShyamalan(or
WoodyAllenin New Yorkor BarryLevinsonin Baltimore)
create auteurs'visions of cities and may attractloyal fan
bases as well. City officials and businessmenalso have
been concernedwithimagery,turningthe city itselfinto an
off-Broadwaystage for the 2000 RepublicanNational
Convention(Roberts1997; Von Bergen 1999). Ironically,
one of the most effective controlson imagerymay be the
sheerweightof repetitionand intertext- one cannotsud-
denlyre-presentPhiladelphiaas a city of sexualintrigueor
globalespionagebecausethe stagehas not been set in pre-
vious movies. In this sense, cities andcultureinteractover
time: the image of Rockyhas a profoundimpacton both
the futurecity andfuturefilms. Hence,a featurein theHol-
land Sentinel (Michigan) melded public efforts toward
changeandpast mediaimageryin the headline"Philadel-
phiashedding'Rocky's'hometownimage"(1998).
Here, hegemonic issues, both local and global, have
tended to homogenize imagery and voice, whateverthe
impactson the city. Yet Philadelphiaremainsa complex
andconflictivecity whose diversityalso eruptsinto metro-
politanvisualculture.Local voices andlocal diversitygain
limitedscreeningsthroughpublicevents like the Philadel-
phia Film Festival, the InternationalHouse, and public
televisionstationsthathavenot only screenedbutalso pro-
duced films. These providevariedand illuminatingcom-
mentaryon a floatingworldof Hollywoodimagery.
Public television station WHYY's nostalgic video of
Philadelphia'spast, Things that Aren't There Anymore
(1993), and its sequel, for example, stressthe lost monu-
ments and experiences of the city, from Connie Mack
BaseballStadiumto downtownmovie palacesand night-
clubs. When used as fund-raising tools, announcers
stressedthe importanceof the historythatthe cityhad lost.
In an ironicrecognitionof demographicdecline,they sug-
gestedusingthe videosas gifts for Philadelphianswho had
movedelsewhereso thatthey could relive theirpastin the
city. This evokes intriguingintersectionswith issues of
memorythat hauntsome Hollywood productionson the
city.
PhiladelphiaDiaries (1999), anotherWHYY produc-
tion,recastsome of thetermsandgeographyof Hollywood
imagery by focusing on raciallychargedissues in North
and West Philadelphia.It drew on cityscapesandcommu-
nity efforts like the extensive mural programthat has
emergedespeciallyin blightedneighborhoods.In addition
to broadcastlinkages,this productionalso incorporatedan
productiondiarythatreadsas a chronicleof inter-
Intemrnet
actionwiththe city overthe weeks of production.
Other documentaryproductionshave taken polemic
stanceson urbanissues.FrederickWiseman'sHigh School
pointedout the problemsof NorthEast PhiladelphiaHigh
School.4Squatters:The OtherPhiladelphiaStory (1980)
(whose title clearlyrefersback to a class icon of "Holly-
wood"Philadelphia)chronicledthe effortsof ACORNto
reclaimabandonedhousing,while the KensingtonWelfare

RightsUnionhas also produceda feature-lengthdocumen-
tary on the housing struggle, Poverty Outlaw (1998),
which bringsvoices of womenfromKensingtoncaughtin
postindustrialwelfare to the screen.While some produc-
tions illuminatesometimeswry visions of the city, like the
2000 Gay Bingo, othersarecaughtup in ongoingissues of
race, class, and conflict. Bombing on Osage Avenue
(1986), for example,dealt with a controversialcity attack
on the radicalactivist groupMOVE, which continuesto
have repercussionsin boththe neighborhoodandthe city.
The last film, producedby Toni Cade Bambaraand
Louis Massiah,also spurredan ongoingprojectto promote
communityactivismthroughvideo thatre-posesissues of
urban imagination and control. Scribe Video Center,
foundedin 1982, hasactedas a clearinghousefor videogra-
phers and filmmakersengaged in variousurbanprojects,
from personalstudiesto documentationof changingstreet
life. Among their interests,the CommunityVisions Pro-
ject, initiatedin 1990, has soughtto trainlocal groupsto
use videos as partof theirorganization.Scribeprovidesad-
vice and trainingin scripting,camera,and editingas well
as professionalfacilitatorswho work with organizational
teams.Finally,Scribeschedulesthe work'spremiereat the
(local) InternationalHouse;many films are also screened
on local publictelevision.Subjectmatter,form, anddistri-
bution/usearechosenby the groupitself.
This project,now responsiblefor 36 films, has produced
a wide varietyof workswithinits definitionof underserved
communities.These include many works based in Ken-
singtonandworkingwithlocal communitygroups,suchas
KensingtonAction Now's WeHope the Message is Get-
ting Through(1991). Other groups and videos include
CommunityMentalHealth,MentalRetardationServices'
Weare All in ThisTogether(1993); We the People's New
Faces of AIDS (1994), and the Anna Crusis Women's
Choir's WhenSpeechFlows to Music(1995). The formof
the videos includes polemic pieces as well as those by
youngeractiviststhatoftenecho music videos.
Distributionand use, as Wong has found(1997), repre-
sent the most variablefeaturesof such grassrootsvideos.
Some are used in trainingand fund-raising,with active
commentaryfrom organizationalrepresentatives.Some
have been sharedwith membersbut have had little more
dissemination.Some were abandonedbecauseof changes
in program,internalconflicts,or disappearanceof the or-
ganizationitself. Few organizationshave repeatedtheir
productions,given the effortscatalyzedby the initialvideo
andturnoverof interestedassociates,amongotherreasons.
A closerreadingof one suchvideo,Face to Face:It'sNot
WhatYouThink(1997), on whichWong workedas facili-
tator,indicatesthe processesby whichurbanvisualculture
is createdandsharedat the grassrootslevel. This video was
created by ten youths working with Asian Americans
United. It focuses on their experiences and anti-Asian
WONG AND MCDONOGH / THE MEDIATEDMETROPOLIS 107
prejudicein the city and ends poignantlywith personal
recognitionsof family and a dedicationto one videogra-
pher's sister, who was killed in a video store incidentin
SouthPhiladelphiawhile the video was being made.
When making Face to Face, the problem of Asian
Americanrepresentation'was discussedat length by the
eight CambodianAmericansand two ChineseAmericans
who constitutedthe core group as well as their Korean
AmericanandChineseadvisors.Yet, while the workis al-
ternative,both in form and content,the producersthem-
selves were not die-hardcommunity/mediaactivists.The
youthsgot togetherfor the video primarilyto find a chan-
nel to expresstheirconcerns.They werealso consumersof
mainstreamAmericanmediaculture,with some exception
via programmingfrom their native countriesas well as
Hong Kong. Hence, while these producerswere transna-
tionals,their media literacywas derivedmainly from the
hegemonicdiscourse.This explainsthe more MTV style
seen at the tape's opening and later parodickung-fu se-
quences,as well as the youths'familiaritywithHollywood
movies like SixteenCandles(1984).
These videographersput manyof theirconcernson the
tape-schools, stereotypes,gangs, ethnicidentities.How-
ever,they also omittedthemescentralto theirsocietiesand
cultures,such as families and generationalconflicts.Dur-
ing the fourto five monthswhenthe youthsmet every Sat-
urdayat Asian AmericanUnitedto discussthe tape,many
were concernedwith theirrelationshipswiththeirparents.
They would say that their parentsstill think that this is
Cambodia,ratherthanAmerica.They were expectedto be
good children,who do well in schools,dressappropriately,
and stay home at the right time. This subjectwas never
broughtup on tape, however, becausethe youths do not
wantto offend theirparents.Furthermore, they know that
they want to make a tape reachingnon-Asians,the main
message of which should be the problemof racismthatall
sharedratherthanpointsof difference(thehome).
As producers,though, neither these kids nor AAU
thoughtclearlyaboutaudience.Yet the video has received
relativelywide distributionandreaction.It has been shown
in differentschools andfestivalsandis now distributedby
NationalAsianAmericanTelecommunication Association
(NAATA). Generally, it was well received by educators
and fellow Asian Americans, who have expressed commu-
nity through comments at the Q & A sessions. Others, es-
pecially white Americans, are simply not aware of anti-
Asian racism and find the tape educational. However,
African American audiences, especially youths, have been
divided: some have noted shared styles uniting them to the
"model minority," while others have been critical of the
film because of the complex urban racial relations between
the two groups it depicts.
The video is powerfulin its own reflectionson media
and identity. Yet as both agents and texts, process and
108 * VOL. 103, No. 1 *
AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST MARCH2001
productcreateand re-createAsian Americanidentitiesas
global consumersin urbancontexts. They incorporatea
range of influencesand experiencesof Americansociety
and cultureto be read differentlyby subsequentgroups.
Face to Face is a powerfulas well as an intriguingstate-
ment to be read in many ways-personal, ethnic, urban,
and even global, basedin the dividedcitizenshipof Phila-
delphia.
These linkagesof product,production,and audiencein
narrowcastmass mediaandtheirechoes in otherprocesses
of limited screeningin Philadelphiaraise very different
questionsabouturbanvisualculture,control,anduse of the
city. In the CommunityVisions Project,class andethnicity
are not metaphorsor key scenarios,but groundsof strug-
gle. Memories and injustice may still be haunting,but
these are not motifs in a plot but causes to be righted.
Moreover,sinceaudiencesoftenknow producersandshare
theirurbanmilieu,texts become interwovenwith the pro-
ductionandreproduction of urbancommunityandconflict.
More thanculturalproximity,then, we deal with cultural
production,withina frameworkthatrecognizesthe styles,
themes, and even prejudicesof mass media depictionsof
the city andgrowsfromthatknowledgein new visualme-
dia andculturalinterpretations.
Conclusions
Overtwo decadesago, IanJarviecalled our attentionto
many facets of film and mass media as experiencesin or-
derto opena windowon thecomplexworldof HongKong:
We tendto takethemundane cinemaforgranted; it is theleast
partof thefilmindustry.Yet it is theheartof it
glamourous
too.Production wouldceasealtogether andthecinemasof the
worldcouldgo on forevershowingandre-showingthe im-
menseaccumulation of old movies-as happenedin Russia
afterthe1917revolution andin HongKongaftertheJapanese
conquest.... Hong Kong's cinemasare not as exotic or
quirkyas thoseof somelands,despitesnacksof driedbeef,
melonseeds,soybeanmilk,babiesin slingson backs.The
Chinesedo not,as theJapanese do, hissin quietappreciation
of stronglyeroticscenes;theydo nottreattheauditorium as a
socializingextension of their
livingroom, as in Israel;theydo
notgo in fortheloudput-down remarkin a tensemoment,as
in theEnglishspeakingworld;theydo nottreatthecinemaas
a culturalevent,as in France;theydo try,liketheBritish,to
sit apartfrom strangers.Still, the cinemasand whatthey
show-as alsowhattheydo notshow-are a vitalpartof so-
ciallife.[1978:71]
By responding to his challenge and comparing Hong
Kong's urban visual experiences with those of another
city, albeit one linked throughHong Kong transnational-
ism, we have also soughtto recapturethese vital partsof
social life, as tools and insights and even shapersof the
city.Theexaminationof filmwithinthevisualcultureof two
contemporarycities only allows us to sketch some of the
implicationsof moresystematicstudy,usinganthropological
tools of ethnographicobservation,ideological analysis,
and theoriesof space and place, throughwhich we may
further illuminate modern/postmoderncities and their
transformations. In so doing, we wish to underscorelinks
between the shapeandexperienceof cities and the mean-
ings thattheircitizensreadoff screensintotheirown lives.
At the sametime,we mustremainopento creativeways
in which these readingscan reshapelocal identitiesand
meanings,whetherwith broadcastor narrowcastfilms. In
lateNovember2000, forexample,aneditorialin the Phila-
delphia Weeklychallenged an Inquirercritic who, re-
spondingto M. Night Shyamalan'sUnbreakable(2000),
had decriedthe grimportrayalof the city thatseems to run
throughPhiladelphiafilms. Instead,the editorialproudly
proclaimed:
We'renot a city predisposed to brightnessandaffirmation.
Attemptsto feignthatwe are,particularly
forthesakeof com-
merce,failmiserably.
Insteadwe area cityfilledwithmysteryandmagic;a city
wherethe unexplained andthe inexplicable findsafehaven,
wherestorytellerswith refinedacumen-like EdgarAllen
Poe andM. NightShyamalan--can sensethe secrecyin our
moodsandcreatestoriesbuiltaroundourwonder.
Lookaround. Youcanseeit.Youcanfeelit.
We shouldfeelproudwhena cameracatchesit. [Whitaker
2000]
Thoseof us who workin cities aroundthe worldall have
witnessed intense mass-mediatedtransformationin our
lives or in the field-if not in movies, in television or the
Internet.Often, however, we take visual culture as the
frameworkfor everydaychangesandnormality.In the fu-
ture, urbananthropologymust recognize more not only
mass mediabuturbanvisualexpression,distribution,spec-
tatorship,andactivereadingsas vitalandpowerfulcompo-
nentsof urbanlife. Withthesetools, then,we can increase
andenrichourunderstandings of contemporary cities, their
citizens,andtheirdestinies.
Notes
Acknowledgments. Thispaperis basedon researchfunded
by theCouncilfortheInternationalExchangeof ScholarsFul-
brightProgram, theUniversityof Pennsylvania,
theCityUni-
versityof New York, and Bryn Mawr College. wouldalso
We
liketo acknowledge thecolleaguesandstudentswhohavedis-
cussedtheseideaswithus, includingpresentationsof partsof
thepaperat the SocietyforCinemaStudies,theUniversityof
Tarragona,the AmericanAnthropological Association,and
the BrynMawrCollegeVisualCultureColloquiumSeries.
Specialthanksgo to friendsin productionand criticismin
Hong Kongand to LouisMassiah,HebertPeck,and Scribe
Video,andto SethaLowas ourorganizerandeditor.
1. A moredetailedaccountof theseethnographic dataon
HongKongandtheirimplicationswill appearin Wong and
McDonogh(in press);Wong(1997, 1999a)providesa more
detaileddiscussionof ScribeVideo.

2. While these studies are situated primarilywithin film,
others have also worked in television, photography,advertis-
ing, and the Internetbut are too numerous to review here.
Dickey (1997) offers an excellent review.
3. We are leaving aside some issues of continuingtelevi-
sion portrayals, which include a more middle-class vision
("thirtysomething," ABC 1987-1991), an attemptat grittyur-
ban realism andthe promiseof Bochco's new work. Othercit-
ies have developed strong televisual images--Chicago and
hospitaldramas,Providenceand melodrama(NBC 1999-pre-
sent), or Baltimoreand crime shows like "Homicide:Life on
the Street"(NBC 1993-1999), yet this remainsa distinct and
complicated issue. In Philadelphia,such portraitsshould be
contrastedwith the role of public and independentstations,
below.
4. This film, like other Wiseman works, has had complex
local repercussions;for legal reasons, it remains unavailable
for purchaseor exhibitionin the GreaterPhiladelphiaregion.
5. The present Asian American population in the United
States and Philadelphiahas been shapedby the 1965 immigra-
tion act in which nationalquotas were eliminated,afterwhich
family chain migrationbecame easier. This contributedto a
dramatic increase of this population and a wider non-Asian
awareness of them. Still, these Asians came from different
parts of Asia, at differentperiods, and can be enemies of an-
other group in their home countries,like the Vietnamese and
the Cambodians.Even within the same ethnic group, for ex-
ample, a recent Hong Kong immigrantlike Wong is very dif-
ferent from the people who jumped off the Golden Voyager or
a third-generationChinese American Republicanaccountant
in terms of class, history, religion, language, and region. In
reading the film, we must see this as a strategiclabel, on the
one hand, imposed by mainstreamAmerica, while simultane-
ously manipulatedby people who consider themselves Asian
in America. Very often, this category includes most non-
white, non-black, non-Latino, non-Native American, and,
sometimes, non-Arabs or non-South Asians. Relations with
AfricanAmericansareespecially criticalin this film.
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