Abstract:
This chapter examines the idea of the city as "ideal' cityscape. The argument is
developed through case study material on cinema and tourism, collected in Hong
Kong from 2000 to 2004, with the major focus on Hong Kong post-SARS (2003).
Film is a fundamental contributor of images for 'the idea of the city', which is itself
a (cinematic) metaphor for modern experience (Lynch 1960; Robins 1999; Donald
1999). Tourism - already understood as a cultural phenomenon of immense
importance in understanding modernity and globalization (Graburn2001;Harrison
2001; Craik 1995) - also contributes to the way in which cinematic cities are
understood, as places of potential or imaginative visitation. Unsurprisinglv, then,
the cinematic idea of the city, the cityscape, is resonant with touristic strategies in
peculiar local conditions, and is approached here through 'structures of attention'
that are responsive to the political, social, and historical interests of residents and
citizens.
