Chinese Cinema

Catalog description

This course is a cinematic exploration of the critical issues in Chinese culture and history. Students will discuss early filmmaking in Shanghai, leftist melodrama, Socialist films, the Chinese New Wave, underground films, and filmmaking in the era of modernization and globalization. Themes and genres that will be investigated include melodrama, the "Fifth Generation", underground filmmaking, filmic representations of women, minority films, and historical epics. Films from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and diasporic communities will be discussed to illuminate what it means to be "Chinese." All films in this course feature bilingual subtitles in both Chinese and English; the film viewings will take place outside the class. This course has the following objectives: 1) View and comprehend 13 Chinese movies; 2) discuss Chinese language, literature, history, and culture as well as filmmaking as they are reflected in the Chinese movies featured in this course; and 3) learn how to write film reviews on Chinese movies in Chinese. The course will be taught in Chinese and uses the seminar-style instructional methods focusing on developing the students' disciplinary communication skills in Chinese Studies. CHIN 330 is designed for English-speaking Chinese learning students to progress from the intermediate level to the advanced-level Chinese using related coursework. CHIN 330D is designed for native- and near-native Chinese speaking students to progress from the advanced level to the advanced-high level Chinese using related coursework. Students may only earn credit for one of the following: CHIN 330 , CHIN 330D , or ASIA/ WLIT 330 . Offered as CHIN 330 and CHIN 330D . Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course. Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.