temporary syllabus (subject to change pls do not circulate)

FALL 2014:ASIAN FILM HISTORY BEFORE 1945

Lecture Period/Venue:  Fridays  10:30 - 12:00/文学部131 [School of Letters Rm 131]

Lecturer: MA Ran

Office Location /mail:  School of Letters, Room 224/maran@lit.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Office Hours: Monday~Thursday by email appointment

Course Blog: http://2014afh.blogspot.jp/

[readings and other course-related materials/notifications would be updated on the course blog]

Course Description & Objective

By figuratively dividing the film history in Asia into two stages, namely the pre and post World War II periods, we shall start our two-part survey on Asian film history with this particular course, in which the highlight is directed to early cinemas from East Asia. In positioning the survey of films within the socio-historical exigencies and cultural context of Japan, China (Taiwan & Hong Kong) and Korea before and during World War II, this course offers the students an opportunity to engage with the early cinemas and their evolvement from the perspective of social history and discourses of modernities in this region. Students are expected to acquire the basic knowledge on early cinemas in Asia, and learn to analyze films in relation to certain socio-cultural issues that became significant during the timeframe under examination. This course comprises a combination of screenings, lectures, and discussions. Students must complete the reading assignments prior to each module.  

Evaluation:

25% Participation & Contribution to Discussion/Presentation

30% Film Journals (X2)

10% In-class Quiz/ Short Essay

35% Final Paper

Course Assignments:

Film Journals: Students will discuss and/or compare designated film(s) and write a 500-word film journal as an analytical essay (NOT a summary of plot). Late submission will NOT be accepted. A more detailed explanation will be given later. 

Final Paper: Due on Feb 6^th, 5pm via email; 1,500~2,000 words. (If you wish, you can go over the word limit.)

Students will be required to analyze one Asian film in regards to its historical relationship to, and its difference from the films and their contexts we have discussed for this course. Please engage with at least two readings or texts from the required or supplementary reading/viewing lists. It should include a bibliography and use the MLA citation style. Topic of the paper followed by one paragraph of justification and two essay references should be submitted and discussed on Jan 30^th.

Note on Plagiarism:

Plagiarism: A writer who presents the ideas of words of another as if they were the writer’s own (that is, without proper citation) commits plagiarism. Plagiarism is not tolerable in this course or at Nagoya University. You should avoid making quotes or drawing on figures from nowhere—you must provide sources of reference for quotation and/or citations you use in the paper. This applies to images and media clips as well. Failure to observe this would risk being charged of plagiarism. In this University, plagiarism is a disciplinary offence. Any student who commits the offence is liable to disciplinary action.

Requirements:

Preferably, students should 1) have their background in humanities-related subjects; and 2) be 3rd-year (and above) undergraduates or 1st-year MA students. Yet, students who do not meet requirements as above will be accepted on a case-by-base basis after consulting with the lecturer. Auditing students are welcomed. Yet they should try to keep full attendance and fully participate the classroom activities as the registered students do; unsatisfactory performance on auditing students would be immediately reported at any stage of the semester. We also engage with a wide spectrum of films, and when there is no in-class screenings, we expect the students to loan/watch films via rental DVDs from library /lecturer etc. to facilitate their study.

click READ MORE to see the class shedule

Schedule of Classes

Week 1/Oct 3^rd Introduction: Early Cinemas in (East) Asia, Maps and Timelines

Screening:  the Frightful Era of Kurama Tengu [鞍馬天狗 恐怖時代], Dir. Teppei Yamaguchi, 38 min, 1928; Jiraiya the Hero[豪傑児雷也], Dir. Makino Shozo, 20min, 1921

I.              EARLY CINEMAS ACROSS EAST ASIA

1. Early Japanese Cinema: Benshi & Period Films 

Week 2/Oct 10^th Lecture and Discussion

Required Readings:

Anderson and Richie, the Japanese Film 35-71

High, “the Dawn of Cinema in Japan”: 23-57

Reference Readings:

J. L. Anderson, “Japanese Swordfighters and American Gunfighters”, Cinema Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Spring, 1973), pp. 1-21

2. Accounts of Early Chinese Cinema I：From Peking to Shanghai

Week 3/Oct 17^th Screening: Searching for Brodsky【尋找布洛茨基】, Dir. Liao Gene-fon, 2009

Week 4/Oct 24^th Lecture & Discussion

Required Readings

Jay, Leyda. Dianying/Electric Shadows, 15-59

Zhang Yingjin, “Cinema and National Traditions 1896-1926”, Chinese National Cinema, p13-22

Huang Xuelei & Xiao Zhiwei, “Shadow Magic and the Early History of Film Exhibition in China", The Chinese Cinema Book, eds. Song Hwee-lim & Julian Ward, Palgrave& Macmillan, 2011 p47-55

Reference Readings

Kirk Denton’s OSU webpage, “a Brief History of Chinese Film” [http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/denton2/courses/c505/temp/history/history.html]

Film for Discussion: Lai Man-wai, Father of Hong Kong Cinema, Dir. Choi Kai-kwong, 2001

3. Accounts of Early Chinese Cinema II：Shadow Play in Context

NOTE：Week 5/Oct 31 Lecturer’s business trip NO CLASS

★Film Journal No.1 due on Oct 31^st, 5pm via Email on 2 films:

Laborer’s Love「勞工之愛情」, Dir. Zhang Shichuan, 1922; Never Weaken, Dir. Harold Lloyd, 1921[available at YouTube] (details to be given later)

Week 6/Nov 7^th   Lecture & Discussion

Required Readings

Victor Fan, “From the Shadow Play to Electric Shadows”, Electric Shadows: A Century Of Chinese Cinema, eds. James Bell, BFI, 2014, p8-15

Zhang Yingjin, “Cinema and National Traditions 1896-1926”, Chinese National Cinema, p22-57

Reference Readings

Zhen, Zhang, Amorous History of the Silver Screen, 89-117

II.            EVOLVEMENT AND TRANSFORMATION: THE 1930s-40s

1. Fallen Woman of Shanghai

Week 7/Nov 14^th   Screening

The Goddess「神女」，Dir. Wu Yonggang, 1934, 76 min

★Film Journal No.2 Due on Nov 25^th, 5pm via email on 1 film:

Centre Stage「阮玲玉」, Dir. Stanley Kwan, 1992, 118 min

Screening of this film: Nov 18^th (Tuesday) Rm 131, 4:30pm~

Week 8/Nov 21^st   NO CLASS; UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAM

Week9/Nov 28^th     Lecture & Discussion

Required Readings

Kristine Harris, “The Goddess: Fallen Woman of Shanghai,” in Chris Berry, ed. Chinese Films in Focus II

[for Week 7 to Week10]

Tony Rayns, “The Second Generation”, Electric Shadows: A Century Of Chinese Cinema, eds. James Bell, BFI, 2014, p16-27

Zhang Yingjin, “Cinema and National Traditions 1896-1926”, Chinese National Cinema, p58-78

2. Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women

Week 10/Dec 5^th

Required Readings

Kirihara, Donald. “Sisters Of Gion”. Patters of Time: Mizoguchi and the 1930s. Madison,WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992, p116-136

David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson, Film History: An Introduction (3^rd edition), MdGraw Hill Higher Education, 2010, p226-228

Film for Discussion (no in-class screening)

Sisters of the Gion [祇園の姉妹], dir. Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936 (available at YouTube with English subtitle)

3. Empire and Colonialism: Filmmaking in Manchuria and Korea I

Week 11/Dec 12^th Screening:  Suchow Night 「蘇州の夜」 (1941), dir. Hiromasa Nomura, 1941

Week 12/Dec 19^th    Lecture & Discussion 

Required Readings

Michael, Baskett. The Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan, p1-12, 72-84

Li, Jie. “A National Cinema for A Puppet State: The Manchurian Motion Picture Association”, The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas. Edited by Carlos Rojas and Eileen Chow. , Oxford University Press, 2013, p79-97

Sookyeong, Hong. “Between Ideology and Spectatorship: The “Ethnic Harmony” of the Manchuria Motion Picture Corporation, 1937–1945”, Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, Volume 2, Number 1, May 2013, p114-135

4. Empire and Colonialism: Filmmaking in Manchuria and Korea II

Week 13/Jan 9^th     Screening: Dear Soldier, Dir. Bang Han-joon, 1944

Week 14/Jan 16^th     No Class

Week 15/Jan 23^rd   Lecture & Discussion 

Required Readings

Baskett，Michael. The Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan, 84-105

Yecies, BM & Shim, AG. “Collaborative Film Production Under Japan’s War-preparation System, 1937-1945”, Korea’s Occupied Cinemas, 1893-1948, 115-140

Yecies, BM & Shim, AG, “Lost Memories of Korean Cinema: Film Policy During Japanese Colonial Rule, 1919-1937”, Asian Cinema, Fall/Winter 2003, 14(2)

Week 15/Jan 30^th Thesis Workshop

(details to be announced later)

FILMOGRAPHY

Suchow Night, 1940

the Frightful Era of Kurama Tengu, Dir. Teppei Yamaguchi, 1928

Centre Stage, Dir. Stanley Kwan, 1992, 118 min

Dear Soldier, Dir. Bang Han-joon, 1944

The Goddess，Dir. Wu Yonggang, 1934

Searching for Brodsky, Dir. Liao Gene-fon, 2009

Laborer’s Love, Dir. Zhang Shichuan, 1922

Lai Man-wai, Father of Hong Kong Cinema, Dir. Choi Kai-kwong, 2001

Never Weaken, Dir. Harold Lloyd, 1921

Sisters of the Gion, dir. Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936

Suchow Night (1941), Dir. Hiromasa Nomura, 1941

Reading List:

Anderson, Joseph and Donald Richie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry, expanded ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1982

Electric Shadows: A Century of Chinese Cinema, eds. James Bell, BFI, 2014

High, Peter B. “the Dawn of Cinema in Japan”, Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 19 No.1:23-57,1984

Jay, Leyda. Dianying: An Account of Films and the Film Audience in China, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1972

Michael, Baskett. The Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008

Poshek, Fu. Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinemas, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2003

Yecies, BM & Shim, AG. Korea’s Occupied Cinemas, 1893-1948, Routledge, 2011

Zhen, Zhang, Amorous History of the Silver Screen: Shanghai Cinema, 1896-1937. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Further Readings:

Daw-Ming, Lee. Historical Dictionary of Taiwan Cinema, Scarecrow Press,2012

Gerow, Aaron. Visions of Japanese Modernity: Articulations of Cinema, Nation, and Spectatorship: 1859-1925. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2010

Kirihara, Donald. Patters of Time: Mizoguchi and the 1930s. Madison,WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992

Kristine, Harris. “The Goddess: Fallen Woman of Shanghai,” in Chris Berry, ed. Chinese Films in Focus II, Basingstoke [England]; New York : BFI/Palgrave Macmillan, 2008

Leo T. S. Ching, Becoming “Japanese”: Colonial Taiwan and the Politics of Identity Formation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001

Leo, Ou-fan Lee. Shanghai Modern: The Flowering Of A New Urban Culture In China, 1930-1945. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1999.

Paul, Fonoroff. “A Brief History of Hong Kong Cinema”, Renditions. 29/30 (Spring and Autumn 1988), 293-308

Poshek Fu, Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: the Politics of Chinese Cinemas, Stanford University Press, 2003,p1-50

Yecies, BM & Shim, AG, “Lost Memories of Korean Cinema: Film Policy During Japanese Colonial Rule, 1919-1937”, Asian Cinema, Fall/Winter 2003, 14(2), 75-90.

Yingchi, Chu, Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self, London; New York : Curzon, 2003.