George Mason University
Department of Modern & Classical Languages
CHINESE 320 – Chinese Cinema (Summer 2003)
Class Meeting Time: T R 7:00 p.m.
– 10:00 p.m. , Sat 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Class Meeting Place: Thompson Hall 232
Instructor:
Alexandra R. Wagner
Office Location:
Thompson Hall 234 A
Office Hours:
By appointment
E-mail:
awagner2@gmu.edu
Session-by-Session Schedule (course outline)
Textbook (available at the GMU bookstore): Sheldon Hsiao-peng
Lu (ed.), Transnational Chinese Cinema: Identity, Nationhood, Gender.
Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1997.
Session/ Date:
Class:
Assignments for next session:
Session 1 / Tuesday, July 1
Introduction to the Course; Film Studies
and Chinese Cinema; Film as Art: Ways to "Read" Film
[Clips from Mainland
China/ Taiwan/ Hong Kong Cinema]
Screening:
Crossroads (Shizi
jietou, 1937, dir.
Shen Xiling,
110 min.)
Read:
Sheldon Lu, Transnational Chinese Cinemas: "Historical
Introduction"
AND
Zhiwei Xiao, "Anti-Imperialism and Film Censorship During the Nanjing
Decade, 1927-1937"
Session 2 / Saturday, July 5
Early Chinese Cinema and Film Industry in China: Questions
of Nationalism, Identity, Gender
Screening:
Little Playthings (Xiao Wanyi,
1933, dir. Sun
Yu, 110
min.)
Read:
Kristine Harris, "The New Woman Incident: Cinema, Scandal,
and Spectacle in 1935 Shanghai"
Session 3 / Tuesday, July 8
Patriotism and Nationalism in Chinese Cinema
[Clips from Crows and
Sparrows (Wuya yu maque, 1949, dir. Zheng Junli, 113 min.);
some Hollywood movie clips]
Screening:
Two Stage Sisters (Wutai jiemei, 1965, dir. Xie Jin, 112
min.)
Read:
Gina Marchetti, "Two Stage Sisters: The
Blossoming of a Revolutionary Aesthetic"
Session 4 / Thursday, July 10
Revolutionary Aesthetics in Chinese Cinema
[Clips from Guerillas
on the Plain (Pingyuan youjidui, dir. Su Li, 1955), Red
Detachment of Women (Hongse niangzi jun - Dance
remake-1970)
Screening:
Farewell
my Concubine (Bawang bieji, dir. Chen Kaige, 1993, 157 min.)
Read:
E. Ann Kaplan, "Reading Formations
and Chen Kaige's Farewell my Concubine"
AND
Wendy Larson, "The Concubine and the Figure of History: Chen Kaige's
Farewell my Concubine"
Session 5 / Saturday, July 12
Reflections on History, Culture,
and Nation in Fifth Generation Chinese Cinema: Chen Kaige
[Clips from
Yellow Earth (Huang
tudi, 1984); Life
on a String (Bian zou bian chang, 1991); The Emperor and The Assassin
(Jing ke ci qin wang, 1999)]
Screening:
Red
Sorghum
(Hong gaoliang, 1987, dir. Zhang Yimou, 91 min.)
Read:
Sheldon Hsiao-peng Lu, "National Cinema,
Cultural Critique, Transnational Capital: The Films of Zhang Yimou"
Session 6 / Tuesday, July 15
Reflection on History,
Culture, and Nation in Fifth Generation Chinese Cinema: Zhang
Yimou
[Clips
from films directed by Zhang Yimou: To
Live (Huozhe, 1994), Shanghai Triad (Yao a yao, yao dao waipoqiao,
1995), The Story of Qiu Ju (Qiu Ju da guansi, 1993); Raise the
Red Lantern (Da hong denglong gao gao gua, 1991)]
Screening:
Ju Dou (Ju Dou, 1990, dir. Zhang Yimou, 114 min.)
Read:
Shuqin Cui, "Gendered Perspective: The Construction and Representation
of Subjectivity and Sexuality in Ju Dou"
AND / OR
Yi Zheng, "Narrative of the Historical Passion: Those Other Women
- On the Alterity in the New Wave of Chinese Cinema"
Session 7 / Thursday, July 17
Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Chinese
Cinema
[Clips from Raise the Red Lantern (Da hong denglong gao gao
gua, 1991, dir. Zhang Yimou); Hibiscus
Town (Furong zhen, 1986, dir. Xie Jin)]
Screening:
The Horse Thief
(Dao ma zei, 1985,
88 min.)
Read:
Yingjin Zhang, "From 'Minority Film' to 'Minority Discourse': Questions
of Nationhood and Ethnicity in Chinese Cinema"
Session 8 / Saturday, July 19
Representations of Minorities in Chinese
Film
[Clips from King of Children (Haizi wang, 1987, dir. Chen
Kaige); Sacrifice of Youth (Qingchun ji, 1985, dr. Zhang Nuanxing);
Ashma (Ashima, 1964)]
Screening:
The Killer (Diexue shuang
xiong, 1989, 104 min.)
Read:
Anne T. Ciecko, "Transnational Action: John Woo, Hong Kong, Hollywood"
AND
Steve Fore, "Jackie Chan and the Cultural Dynamics of Global Entertainment"
Session 9 / Tuesday, July 22
Hong
Kong Action
Cinema
[Clips from A Better Tomorrow
(Yingxiong bense, 1986); Hard
Boiled (Lashou shentan, 1992); Once Upon a Time in China (Wong
Fei-hung, 1991); Drunken Master (Zui quan, 1978);
A Chinese
Ghost Story (Sinnui yauman/ Qiannü youhun, 1987)]
Screening:
Chungking Express (Chongqing senlin, 1994, 102 min.)
OR In the Mood for Love (Huayang nianhua/ Dut yeung nin wa,
2000, 98 min.)
Read: TBA
Session 10 / Thursday, July 24
Hong Kong Cinema: Alienation, Displacement,
and Search for Identity
[Clips from Happy Together (Cheun gwong tsa sit, 1997); Fallen
Angels (Duoluo tianshi, 1995); The Song of the Exile (Ke tu
qiu hen, 1990)]
Screening:
A Time to Live and a Time to Die (Tongnian wangshi, 1985, dir.
Hou Hsiao Hsien, 138 min.)
Read:
June Yip, "Constructing a Nation: Taiwanese History and the Films of Hou
Hsiao-hsien"
Session 11 / Saturday, July 26
Taiwan Cinema: Alienation,
Displacement, and Search for Identity;
The films of Hou Hsiao-hsien
[Clips from films by Hou Hsiao-hsien: City
of Sadness (Beiqing chengshi, 1989); Dust
in the Wind (Lianlian fengchen, 1986); Good Men, Good Women
(Hao nan hao nü, 1995); The Puppet Master (Hsimeng
jensheng, 1993); clips from Vive l'Amour
(Aiqing wan sui, 1994, dir. Tsai Ming-liang)
Screening:
The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan, 1993, dir. Ang Lee) OR Eat
Drink Man Woman (Yin shi nan nü, 1994, dir. Ang Lee)
Read:
Wei Ming Dariotis and Eileen Fung, "Breaking the Soy Sauce Jar: Diaspora
and Displacement in the Films of Ang Lee"
Session 12 / Tuesday, July 29
Crossing nations,
Cultures, Generations in contemporary Chinese Cinema
Screening:
Shower
(Xi zao, 1999, dir. Zhang Yang, 92 min.)
OR
Frozen (Jidu hanleng, 1996, dir. Wang Xiaoshuai, 99
min.)
No
Reading
Session 13 / Thursday, July 31
Review
Screening: A Chinese Ghost Story I
Tuesday, August 5
Final Exam