Visualizing Marriage in Hong Kong
2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 19; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/08949460500373819
ISSN1545-5920
Autores Tópico(s)Philippine History and Culture
ResumoABSTRACT ABSTRACT In this article, I propose using bridal photography and wedding video-recording to gain a better understanding of the meanings of romance and the ideal life among young generations and to consider how relevant images of getting married shed light on the changing social life in Hong Kong. Bridal photography and wedding videorecording not only play the role of documentation but also reflect the social change and values among new married couples in the society. By examining packaged bridal photography and the process of wedding video-shooting, I propose to state how visualization brings subtle influences into the new dynamism of marriage as a ritual and reflects the changing social contexts in today's Hong Kong everyday life. Notes This part can be done in a church or a government office and is held in the daytime. Nowadays, some companies arranged outdoor shooting in nearby Macau, with its hotels, churches, and historical buildings as backgrounds of the pictures. The European look of Macau is probably a major reason for the choice. The printing technique was invented by Kodak in the early 1970s and was only widely used in Hong Kong since late 1988. With the help of an NGO, M took pictures of different kinds of people in various places such as: street kids in Ermita, Manila; slave workers on a sugar cane farm in Negros (producing 70 percent of the sugarcane of the country), southern part of the Philippines; refugees in Candoni, a mountainous area in the southern part of the Philippines and the place where a volcanic eruption brought a natural disaster to the area. M's awards include: an award from the camera maker Hasselblad in 1995; Young Entrepreneur Award in 1997; Innovative Entrepreneur Award from the City Junior Chamber in Hong Kong in 1997; Kodak Excellence Award from Eastman Kodak Company in 1997; and World Young Business Founding Award, organized by Worldcom Group in 1998. Coincidentally, Adrian found similar situations in Taiwan when couples treated Chinese costumes as for fun instead of showing respect for the traditions, and mentioned that: "Not only do couples say that they dress up in the Chinese costumes just 'for fun,' but they also sometimes strike irreverent poses in them—with tongues sticking out or eyes crossed. … And couples and their photographers do not treat the imperial crown costumes with any greater reverence than they do these other 'fun' get-ups" [Adrian 2003 Adrian , Bonnie 2003 Framing the Bride: Globalizing Beauty and Romance in Taiwan's Bridal Industry . Berkeley : University of California Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 108]. This photo album is part of the Completed Marriage Handbook by definition. It is common that one store offers several packages with different numbers of shots and enlarged photographs. For example, Jaguar [1954–65] is considered an example of Jean Rouch's ethnographic science fiction, showing his cinema of collective improvisation documenting how three young men travel from the countryside to the market place in the Gold Coast. Apart from documenting what they did, Rouch successfully captured here how they responded to other ethnic groups along the way. In Chronicle of a Summer [1962] Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin (a sociologist) went to interview people with a camera and asked questions such as "How do you live?" and "Are you happy?" in order to make audiences participate in the investigation and exploration of the reality. Apart from the emergence of cinéma vérité in French new wave cinema, another type of documentary called direct cinema was popular in the United States with a different view of how reality could be captured through the camera; yet both styles have until now significant influences on our understanding of the use of movie camera. They are not natal brothers or sisters but friends of the new couples. Numbers such as three, eight, and nine are considered good because three sounds similar to "lively," eight sounds similar to "getting rich" and nine sounds similar to "forever" in Cantonese. Therefore, they often start with a request from the "sisters" for a door-opening red packet with HK$9999.99, which signifies the long-lasting marriage. Additional informationNotes on contributorsSidney C. H. CheungSIDNEY C. H. CHEUNGis Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include visual anthropology, anthropology of tourism, heritage studies, indigenous cultures, food and identity. His published books include On the South China Track: Perspectives on Anthropological Research and Teaching [1998], Tourism, Anthropology, and China [2001], and The Globalization of Chinese Food [2002]. E-mail:sidney.cheung@cuhk.edu.hk
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