Public Lecture of Vincent Woo Distinguished Visiting Scholars Programme 2023-24 by Prof. Meaghan Morris
Date
13 October 2023 (Fri)
Time
15:00 – 17:00
Venue
FHKA Seminar Hall, 2/F, Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District
Language
English
On 13 Oct 2023, the highly anticipated Public Lecture of Vincent Woo Distinguished Visiting Scholars Programme 2023-24 by Prof Meaghan Morris on “Heroes: Credibility, Community and Social Aesthetics” took place at the FHKA Seminar Hall of the Xiqu Centre. Organised by the Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University in collaboration with the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University, the event drew a full house of over a hundred enthusiastic participants.
Renowned scholar Prof. Meaghan Morris, Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, delivered a captivating presentation on the evolving concept of heroes in modern society. Prof. Morris highlighted the increasing significance of “ordinary heroes” in the face of climate change and extreme natural disasters such as bushfires in Sydney and the recent widespread flooding in Hong Kong, emphasising the contributions of firemen, nurses and doctors, care providers, rescue crews, cleaners, etc. rather than relying solely on the concept of “superheroes”. She emphasised that everyone has the potential to be a hero and encouraged attendees to appreciate the heroes within their own communities, promoting a collective effort to protect both our local communities and our planet. Enriching the lecture, Prof. Morris shared video clips featuring movie scenes and music performances. The audience responded with laughter and great enthusiasm, thoroughly enjoying the engaging event.
Expertly moderated by Prof. Lo Kwai Cheung, Professor and Head of the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University, the lecture also featured insightful contributions from discussants Prof. Li Siu Leung, Adjunct Professor at the Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, and Prof. Pang Lai Kwan, Professor and Head of the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The event served as a platform for thought-provoking discussions on the role of heroes in contemporary society, fostering a sense of community and shared responsibility among the participants. Attendees left feeling inspired to appreciate and celebrate the everyday heroes in their lives, motivated to contribute to a brighter future.
Event Highlights
Event Details:
Topic: Heroes: Credibility, Community and Social Aesthetics
Speaker: Prof. Meaghan Morris, Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney
Moderator: Prof. Lo Kwai Cheung, Professor, Head of the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University
Discussants:
Prof. Li Siu Leung (Adjunct Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University)
Prof. Pang Lai Kwan (Professor, Head of the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Abstract
In a South China Morning Post cartoon from June 2003, a bureaucrat promotes a new tourism strategy: take a “Breath Taking Adventure Holiday” in “The SARS Triangle: Macau, The Ultimate Gamble; Guangdong, Dangerous Cuisine; Hong Kong, Extreme Shopping”. In bad taste, the cartoon identified a draining aspect of life in that outbreak: the sense of being bombarded by media disaster cliches that were scripting real events. Twenty years later, as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) faded to a chronic risk, extreme natural disasters (fire, flood, earthquake) ravaged the world with a similarly uncanny sense of familiarity (déjà vu) mixed with foreboding about worse realities of climate change to come.
How do we understand the role of aesthetics today in relation to crisis situations? For example, it is common for local service workers to be heralded as the “ordinary heroes” in whom the people have trust, even in age of incredulity: the firemen, nurses and doctors, care providers, rescue crews, cleaners, and volunteers who step in if government resources fail. In this way they inherit the role that the Marxist aesthetician Gyorgy Lukacs once accorded to the “average” heroes of the historical novel, connecting popular strivings to the collective dramas of the age. Yet it is also common in many countries for these workers to be poorly paid and in precarious living situations; the romance of their heroism quickly fades. Action cinema (in particular, the disaster movie) has generated stories from this contradiction since the 1970s, but what is the impact of such recognition in a stream of media posts and memes? In this lecture I discuss Ben Highmore’s concept of “social aesthetics” as involving the study of feeling to ask what it can teach us about living through climate change with media déjà vu.
Biography
Meaghan Morris is Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney , and former Chair Professor of Cultural Studies in Lingnan University, Hong Kong (2000-2013). Her books include The Pirate’s Fiancée: feminism reading postmodernism (1988), Too Soon Too Late: History in Popular Culture (1998) and Identity Anecdotes: Translation and Media Culture (2006), and she has co-edited Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema (2005), New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society (2005) and The Year’s Work in Showgirls Studies (2024). The founding Chair of both the Association for Cultural Studies (2004-08) and the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society (2012-15). A Fellow of both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities, Meaghan received The Inaugural Stuart Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cultural Studies in 2016.
Organiser: Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University
Co-organiser: Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University