EAST 1270: China Through the Lens: History, Cinema, and Critical Discourse
Tuesday and Thursday: 1:00-2:20
Instructor: Lingzhen Wang
Office: 341 Brook St., Room 201
Office Phone: 3-0792
Dept. Box: 1850
Office Hours: Wednesday: 2:00-4:00; or by appointment
Email:
EAST 1270 is a critical introduction to mainland Chinese films. The subject of this course is, for lack of a better term, “the cinematic China,” which is, on the one hand, heavily embedded in modern China’s political, social, economic, and technological transformations, and on the other hand also open to alternative visions and imaginations, constructing particular aesthetic styles and generating transnational impact.
EAST 1270 focuses on three interrelated dimensions of cinematic practice: local and global contexts of film productions, the specific visual and narrative style of each film, and critical and transnational receptions of Chinese films. Historical and cinematic topics, such as modernity, nation, globalization, revolution, gender, class, hybridity, melodrama, socialist realism, operatic mode of cinema, and commercialism, will be studied across the three dimensions.
This year, EAST 1270 is also tied to Brown’s Year of China Film Series, featuring three major film screenings and lectures that center on early Chinese cinema, Chinese film music, and contemporary Chinese independent filmmaking.
The course is arranged chronologically, but critical writing on films is thematically allocated. No previous knowledge of Chinese is required; all films selected for the course have either English subtitles or printed scripts.
Course Organization:
This course meets twice a week. The first 50 minutes of each class are devoted to lecture, including some visual materials. The remaining 30 minutes are allocated for class discussion, supervised by the instructor.
Requirement and Grading:
1) Two 10-12 page papers (50%)
2) Class participation (20%)
3) Weekly journal for assigned readings and screenings (25%)
4) Others (5%)
Paper Deadlines: For the two short research papers, students can either choose a topic from a list provided by the instructor or create their own.
1) First paper: October 23
2) Second paper: December 7
Students are expected to come to all classes and scheduled screenings and Public Lecturers. More than one unexcused absence will adversely affect the final grade. There will be no incompletes for the course and no extensions for any of the assignments. Exceptions will be made only in the case of illness or emergencies, provided you present adequate documentation.
Required Texts:
Zhang Yingjin, Chinese National Cinema (Routledge, 2004).
Course Packet
Part I: Chinese Films in the Republic Era (1912-1949)
Week One: Introduction
Week One (Sept 7-9)
Th. Course Introduction: History, Modernity, and Chinese Cinema
Documentary: Mei-Juin Chen, “The Worlds of Mei Lanfang, 2005 (In class)
Week Two (Sept. 12-16): Early Chinese Cinema
Tu. Chinese Traditional Opera, Shadow play, and Vernacular Modernity
Reading: ` Zhang Yingjin, “Chapter 1: Introduction” in Chinese National Cinema.
“Chapter 2: Cinema and national traditions 1896-1929”
Film: Ann Hu, Shadow Magic (Xiyang jing), 2000
Th. Chinese Traditional Opera, Shadow play and Vernacular Modernity
Reading: Zhang Zhen, "Teahouse, Shadowplay, Bricolage: 'Laborer's Love' and the Question of Early Chinese Cinema." (Course packet)
Film: Zhang Shichuan, Laborer’s Love (Laogong zhi aiqing), 1922
Week Four (Sept 26-30): Left-wing Movement, Melodrama and the Masses
Tu. Leftist Melodrama and Commercial Cinema
Reading: Zhang Yingjin, “Chapter 3, Cinema and the nation-people, 1930-49”
William Rothman, “The Goddess: Reflections on Melodrama East and West ” (Course packet)
Film: Wu Yonggang: The Goddess (shennü), 1934
Online script: http://faculty.washington.edu/yomi/goddess.html
Th. Leftist Melodrama and Commercial Cinema (continued)
Reading: Ma, Ning, “Textual and Critical Difference of Being Radical”
(E-Reserve)
Film: Yuan Muzhi: Street Angel (Malu tianshi), 1937
Online script: http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/pubs/angel/default.htm
Part II. Chinese Films in the Socialist Era (1949-1966)
Week Five (Oct. 3-7): Socialist Cinema (I)-- Merge of Different Traditions
Tu. Revolution and Liberation: Yan’an Tradition
Reading: Paul Clark, “Yan’an and Shanghai.” (Course packet)
Film: Wang Bin and Shuihua, White Haired Girl (1950)
Online script: http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/pubs/moran2.htm
Th. May Fourth Heritage and Intellectual Adaptations
Reading: Lu Xun, “New Year’s Sacrifice,” 1924 (Handout)
Film: Sang Hu, New Year’s Sacrifice, 1956
Week Six(Oct. 11-14): Socialist Cinema (II) --Constructing a Revolutionary Aesthetic
Tu. Desire and Revolutionary Sublimation
Reading: Paul Clark, “Beyond Shanghai.” (Course packet)
Wang Ban, “Desire and Pleasure in Revolutionary Cinema.”
(Course packet)
Film: Cui Wei, Song of Youth (Qingchun zhige), 1959
Th. Chinese Regional Opera and Socialist Melodrama
Reading: Gina Marchetti: “Two Stage Sisters: The Blossoming of a Revolutionary Aesthetic,” (Course packet)
Internet source: http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Wi-Z/Wutai-Jiemei.html
Film: Xie Jin, Stage Sisters (Wutai jiemei), 1964
Week Seven (Oct. 17-21): Socialist Cinema (III)—Revolutionary Model Operas
Tu. A Revolution in Culture
Reading: Paul Clark, “Modeling a New Culture” (Handout)
“Dancing for the Revolution” (Handout)
Film: The Red Detachment of Women (Hongse niangzi jun), 1970
Tu. Model Operas in Retrospect
Documentary: “Yang Ban Xi: the 8 model works” (In class)
Part III Chinese Films in the Post-socialist Period (1976- )
Week Eight (Oct. 24-28): Gender, Nation, and Post-revolutionary Reflections
Tu. Chinese Women’s Cinema: Subjective Style and Personal Voices
Reading: Zhang Yingjin, “Chapter 7, Cinema and national/regional culture, 1979-89,” in Chinese National Cinema, 225-239
Kaplan, Elizabeth Ann, “Problematizing Cross-Cultural Analysis.”
(E-Reserve)
Film: Hu Mei, Army Nurse (Nüer lou), 1985
Th. New Cinematic Language and Male Root-seeking Movement
Reading: Esther C. M. Yau, "Yellow Earth: Western Analysis and a Non-Western Text," Film Quarterly: (1987-88)41.2: 22-33. (E-Reserve)
Film: Chen Kaige, Yellow Earth (Huang tu di), 1984
Week Ten (Nov. 7-11) : Femininity and Masculinity Re-negotiated
Tu. Gender and Performance
Reading: Dai Jinhua, “Human, Woman, Demon: A Woman’s Predicament.”
(Course packet)
Film: Huang Shuqin, Woman Demon Human (Ren gui qing), 1989
Th. Youth and Fantasy
Reading: Williams, Louise. "Men in the Mirror: Questioning Masculine Identities in In the Heat of the Sun." China Information 17, 1 (2003): 92-106. (E-Reserve)
Film: Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun (Yangguang canlan de rizi), 1995
Week Eleven (Nov. 14-19) Chinese Commercial Films and their Global Impact
Tu. Chinese Martial Arts Film
Reading: Chris Berry and Mary Farquhar, “How Should Chinese Men Act?” (Course packet)
Jenny Kwok Wah Lau, "Hero: China's Response to Hollywood Globalization." Jump Cut 49 (Spring 2007) (E-Reserve)
Film: Zhang Yimou, Hero (Yingxiong), 2002
Ann Lee, Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons (Wohu canglong), 2000 (Optional)
Th. Chinese New Year’s Celebration Film
Reading: Jason McGrath, "New Year's Films: Chinese Enterntainment Cinema in a Globalized Cultural Market" (Handout)
Film: Feng Xiaogang, A World without Thieves (Tianxia wuzei, 2004)
Week Twelve (Nov. 21-2): No Class—Thanksgiving Break!
Week Thirteen (Nov. 28-Dec. 2): Urban Cinema, Independent Directors, and Transnational Visuality
Th. No Class.
Week Fourteen (Dec. 5-7): Conclusion
Tu. Chinese Mode of Cinema and Transnational Aesthetics
Reading: Mary Farquhar and Chris Berry, “Shadow Opera: Toward a New Archaeology of the Chinese Cinema” (Course packet)
Film: Chen Kaige, Forever Enthralled (Mei Lanfang), 2008
Second Paper Due: Friday, December 7