The observation that Gen X Soft Club is now viewed romantically is the most quietly devastating part of the piece. There's something vertiginous about the fact that an aesthetic born from anxiety about the future is now mourned as the last time we could imagine one.
Okay now that I’ve actually read the article: I think I never really noticed the overlap before,,, this feels like a new perspective. For me, Wong Kar-Wai’s blur and saturated primaries feel nostalgic, almost memory-like, but also full of unease and loneliness. Futuristic palettes, on the other hand, often use blur and neon to emphasize futurity itself. Both capture estrangement, but I wonder if part of the reason why Wong Kar-Wai's films feel like they capture the human condition in modern times is because they make isolation seem more sentimental(?), real(?) (as opposed to futuristic sterility because of cooler tones).
Interesting perspective. I’ll bear it in mind as I come to the end of Blossoms Shanghai. Interestingly, most of that series is set within a couple years of Fallen Angels - but Blossoms Shanghai basks more in classicism and community, than melancholy ennui.
I also see overlap between this and postmodern architecture, like OMA’s McCormick Tribune Center (that building itself feels like a blur). Rem Koolhaas (of OMA) wrote about the use of disorientation in postmodern architecture as a way of leaning into the modern city, and also connected it to consumerism, alienation from the natural world, etc.
The observation that Gen X Soft Club is now viewed romantically is the most quietly devastating part of the piece. There's something vertiginous about the fact that an aesthetic born from anxiety about the future is now mourned as the last time we could imagine one.
wow what a comment. this is so right...
Okay now that I’ve actually read the article: I think I never really noticed the overlap before,,, this feels like a new perspective. For me, Wong Kar-Wai’s blur and saturated primaries feel nostalgic, almost memory-like, but also full of unease and loneliness. Futuristic palettes, on the other hand, often use blur and neon to emphasize futurity itself. Both capture estrangement, but I wonder if part of the reason why Wong Kar-Wai's films feel like they capture the human condition in modern times is because they make isolation seem more sentimental(?), real(?) (as opposed to futuristic sterility because of cooler tones).
I'm a major Wong Kar-Wai fan so reading this was a treat. Thank you 💙
Interesting perspective. I’ll bear it in mind as I come to the end of Blossoms Shanghai. Interestingly, most of that series is set within a couple years of Fallen Angels - but Blossoms Shanghai basks more in classicism and community, than melancholy ennui.
NO WAY OMG I WATCHED THIS FILM YESTERDAY (and is now my favorite Wong Kar-Wai film)
I also see overlap between this and postmodern architecture, like OMA’s McCormick Tribune Center (that building itself feels like a blur). Rem Koolhaas (of OMA) wrote about the use of disorientation in postmodern architecture as a way of leaning into the modern city, and also connected it to consumerism, alienation from the natural world, etc.