Syllabus for COVID Pandemic Semester

August 20, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST in Teams

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Taiwanese and Hong Kong Cinemas: 

August 25,  Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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August 27, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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September 1, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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September 3, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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September 8, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST, Kauke 038 in-person class

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September 10, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST, Kauke 038 in-person class

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Chinese attitudes towards change: historical films

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September 15, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST, Kauke 038 in-person class

  • First paper assignment due day, submit in Teams as “final draft1”;
  • introduce  End of History argument and the phenomenology of the Spirit;
  • “Whenever a social or political disaster is over, there are always too many that would stand up from their original kneeling position and say, ‘I accuse’ but far too few that would kneel down and say, ‘I repent’. And when disaster (of political persecution) recurs, those that would kneel down and say ‘I repent’ always outnumber those that would stand up and say ‘I accuse’”. 无论什么样的社会的或政治的灾难过后,总是有太多原来跪着的人站起来说:我控诉!太少的人跪下去说:我忏悔。当灾难重来时,总是有太多的人跪下去说:我忏悔。而太少的人站起来说:我控诉!
  • quiz on Farewell My Concubine, open in Moodle from 5pm to 11pm;
  • analyze clips 12345, and 6;

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September 17, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST, Kauke 038 in-person class

  • quiz on City of Life and Deathopen in Moodle from 5pm to 11pm;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 12345, and 6.
    • group A: Colin Tobin, Amanda Han, Frank Adams, Emma Harrison and Bilegsanaa Battulga
    • group B: Jenny Renner, Dingsheng Luo, Tim Arace and Eric Jia
    • group C: Austin Hanna, Zoe Seymore, Justin Garibotti, Lijiayi Wang and Jacob Cook

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September 22, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST, Kauke 038 in-person class

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September 24, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST in Kauke 038 in-person class

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  • view film Aftershock, dir. by Feng Xiaogang in Youtube
  • think of Aftershock questions and continue writing the second rough draft due 9/29 in Teams Channels; submit your rough drafts in the Channel with the rest of your group;
    • group A: Colin Tobin, Amanda Han, Frank Adams, Emma Harrison and Bilegsanaa Battulga in Channel “cinema”‘
    • group B: Jenny Renner, Dingsheng Luo, Tim Arace and Eric Jia in Channel “identity”;
    • group C: Austin Hanna, Zoe Seymore, Justin Garibotti, Lijiayi Wang and Jacob Cook in Channel “culture”;
  • read The Aesthetics of Retroactive Memory by Wang;

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September 29, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST in Kauke 038 in-person class

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China (Rural)

October 1st, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST in Kauke 038 in-person class

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October 6, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST in Kauke 038 in-person class

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October 8, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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October 13, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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October 15, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz film Ermo from 5pm to midnight;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 12345, and 6

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October 20, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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October 22, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz film Incense, open from 5 to midnight Friday;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 123456, and 7;

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October 27, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

China (Urban)

introduce China’s social changes towards market economy

  • quiz film The World, open from 5pm till tomorrow midnight;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 1234, and 5;
  • key events in modern Chinese history; submit your 3rd paper in email to be uploaded in channels as anonymous postings to ensure fair and impartial peer reviews;

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October 29, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz film Happy Times, from 5pm to midnight;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 1234, and 5;
  • view Charlie Chaplin’s silent film City Lights; (2)

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  • view Chen Kaige’s Together; on Swank Digital Campus (remember you need to be either on Wooster campus or login our VPN to watch the streaming film)
  • read “The Theory of the Novel” by Georg Lukacs, pp. 29-39, 56-69;
  • read a review of Together; for those interested in Comparative Literature (East-West Studies); it may be fun to compare this film with Charles Dickens’ novel The Great Expectations, (1,2,3,4, and 5) that also ends in the young hero going back to his humble origins instead of trying to be a “gentleman” in London;
  • think of Together questions;

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November 3rd, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz Chen Kaige’s  Together from 5pm to midnight;
  • group discussion and analyze of clips 12345, and 6;
  • Begin thinking of the fourth and last 4-page paper. Discuss at least five of the urban films below from the perspective of an auteur. Critique their uses of the city as a trope for addressing the problems of identity, namely, how the metropolis is synonymous with identity crisis for the urban individual.
    • The World, directed by Zhangke Jia, set in capital city of Beijing
    • Lost in Beijing, dir. Li Yu, by set in Beijing
    • Suzhou River, directed by Ye Lou, is set in Shanghai
    • Zhou Yu’s Train, directed by Zhou Sun, set in a southern city
    • Chinese Box, dir. by Wayne Wang, set in the city of Hong Kong
    • Wedding Banquet, dir. Ang Lee, set in New York City
    • Vive L’amour, dir. by Sai Mingliang, set in the city of Taipei
    • Together, directed by Kaige Chen, set in Beijing
    • Shower, directed by Yang Zhang, set in Beijing
    • A World without Thieves, dir. by Feng Xiaogang, setin a train

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November 5, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz film Shower, from 5pm to midnight;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 1234, and 5;
  • cultural identity as articulated a century ago in writing by men of letters;
  • the meaning of “O Sole Mio” in the film;

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November 10, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz film Zhou Yu’s Train, from 5pm to midnight;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 01234, and 5;
  • the theory of mimetic desire developed by Rene Girard, in conjunction to China’s economic transformation in which the Chinese, both as individuals and as a people, begin to mimic the desire of others and other nations;
    • Ermo, desire for a television, brassier and anti-wrinkle cream, to imitate the lifestyles of others and keep up with the Joneses;
    • Together, Xiaochun’s desire for Lily to imitate other successful men; Lily’s desire to be like Marilyn Monroe; Professor Yu’s role as the mediator and model;
    • For the Children, “In my next life, I’ll be a city person like you” Zhang Meili, trying to be like Xia Yu;
    • World, desire to be in the place of others in the them park full of replicas of world famous architectures and buildings;
    • A World without Thieves, corporate greed and competition to remove mimetic rivals;
    • Suzhou River, desire to imitate and replicate the romance of others;

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November 12, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

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November 17, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz film Lost in Beijing, from 5pm to midnight;
  • group discussion and analysis of clips 12345, and 6;
  • read excerpt of Ban Zhao Lessons for Women; how women’s lives were signified in a phallocentric society;
  • read excerpt of Jacques Lacan Meaning of the Phallus; to the extent that identity (gender, individual, self, cultural, national) is a desire, it is for something that cannot be stated like Freudian concept of the “id”, which signifies (through language) what we cannot say; language is the articulations of a lack; “I think where I am not, therefore I am where I do not think.”

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November 19, Thursday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

  • quiz film Suzhou River,
  • discuss the film

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November 24, Tuesday, 3:45-5:05 pm EST

group projects presentations; 26 minutes for each group presentation

Culture Group: with a thematic focus on the problematics of global capitalism (market economy) as presented by the directors. We have chosen eight main films to choose from to base off our argument: To Live, Story of Qiu Ju, Happy Times, Not One Less, Together, Wedding Banquet, Ermo, and Comrades Almost a Love Story. 

Identity Group: with a focus on the role of music in Chinese film and how music encapsulates and tempers one’s individual and cultural identity in historical, rural, and urban China, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong. The films we will discuss are Farewell My Concubine, Together, Comrades, Postmen in the Mountains, and To Live.

Cinema Group: examining the use of transportation in Chinese cinema, as a key indicator of the speed and scope of China’s transformation as a traditional rural culture; modes of transportation can be spiritual as people move about and change over time. The films we will be looking at are Postmen in the Mountains, Not One Less, Comrades Almost a Love Story, Zhao Yu’s Train, and Ermo/Incense (list may change).