TY - JOUR AU - Tam, Kwok-kan PY - 2015/02/24 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Cinematography in Motherhood: a Hong Kong film adaptation of Ghosts JF - Nordlit JA - Nordlit VL - 0 IS - 34 SE - Articles DO - 10.7557/13.3384 UR - https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/3384 SP - 393–402 AB - <p>This is a study of a Hong Kong Chinese film adaptation of <em>Ghosts</em> made in 1960. It deals with processes of cross-cultural and cross-media adaptation, and probes issues of how stage techniques are turned into cinematographic devices. Ibsen’s plays, except <em>Ghosts</em>, have been adapted numerous times for the Chinese stage and screen in Hong Kong and China. Unlike in China, the reception of Ibsen in Hong Kong is not meant for political purposes. In most Hong Kong adaptations, Ibsen is valued for the purpose of theatrical experimentation. Among the stage adaptations, <em>A Doll’s House</em> and <em>The Master Builder</em> are the most popular. However, there was a film adaptation of <em>Ghosts</em> in 1960, which has never been discussed in Ibsen scholarship. In this adaptation, Director Tso Kea borrowed the plot from <em>Ghosts</em> and made a perfect Chinese melodrama film highlighting the Chinese emotions and relations in a wealthy family that undergoes a crisis. In traditional Chinese drama, there is the lack of psychological rendering in characterization and characters act according to moral considerations. In Tso Kea’s film, the portrayal of the mother provides a new sense of characterization by combining Mrs Alving with the traditional Chinese mother figure. The borrowing from Ibsen makes it possible for the Chinese film to create a character with emotional and psychological complexities. Images from the film are selected as illustration in the article.</p> ER -