CULS 5204A Culture Studies in Film and Video (1St Term, 2017-18)

CULS 5204A Culture Studies in Film and Video (1st Term, 2017-18)

Day and Time: Tuesday, 2:30pm-5:15pm Classroom: SWH_1 Teacher: Dr. Li Tiecheng Email: [email protected] Office Hour: Tuesday, 4:00pm-6:00pm Office: 313 Leung Kau Kui Building Office Tel: 3943 1291

Description: This course examines film and video from the perspective of cultural studies. It aims to explore how the languages of moving images carry cultural meanings, especially in the environment of contemporary society. The course will encourage the development of an ability to explain, analyse, and critically evaluate on film and video by using the key theories of cultural studies.

COURSE CONTENT & SCHEDULE PART I: IDEOLOGY Week 1 Sept 5. Introduction to the course How to Read Film & Video Films: 1. Beginning of the Great Revival (2011) vs. Jia Zhangke, Xiao Shan Going Home (1995) 2. James Francis Cameron, Titanic (1997) vs. Lars Von Trier, Idiots (1998)

Reading: Louis D. Giannetti, Understanding Movies, 11th ed., N.J. : Prentice Hall, 2008.

Week 2 Sept 12. Cultural Consumption & Culture Industry Films: 1. David Frankel, The Devil Wears Prada (2006) 2. Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven (1992) Video: 1. News Magazine in TVB (April 9, 2011) 2. Commercial advertisement on TV

Readings:

1 1. John Storey. Cultural consumption as communication. In Cultural consumption and Everyday Life, 36-60. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999. 2. Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Gunzelin Schmid Noerr ed., Edmund Jephcott tran.. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. In Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments, 94-136. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 2002.

Week 3 Sept 19. As Political Propaganda Films and Videos: 1. Documentary: Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will (1935) 2. Beginning of the Great Revival （建黨偉業） (2011) 3. China Centre TV (CCTV) News 4. CNN live news of the battlefield in gulf war

Reading: 1.Walter Benjamin. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, In The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility, and other writings on media, 19-57. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008.

Week 4 Sept 26. The Power Films: 1. Alan Parker, The Wall (1982) 2. D. J. Caruso, Eagle Eyes (2008) 3. Peter Weir, Dead Poets Society, (1989) 4. Documentary: Zhou Hao, Senior Year（高三）(2006)

Readings & Film for Presentation: 1.Michel Foucault. Panopticism. In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison,195-228. Vintage: Westminster, MD, 1995. 2. Frank Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption (1995)

Week 4 Sept 28 (Thur) Evening. Screening and Talk: Beijing Besieged by Waste (垃圾圍城) Guest Speaker: Wang Jiuliang (王久良) Time and Venue: TBA

PART II: IDENTITY Week 5 Oct 3. National Characteristics and Primitive Passions Films: 1. Lu Chuan, City of Life and Death（南京南京) (2009) 2. Zhang Yimo, The Flowers of War (金陵十三釵) (2011)

Readings & Film for Presentation: 1. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: reflections on the oigin and spread of nationalism, 1-46, London; New York: Verso, 2006 2. Arthur Henderson Smith, Chinese Characteristic, London: EastBridge, 2003 3. Lydia H. Liu. Translating National Character: Lu Xun and Arthur Smith, in Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity China, 1900-1937, 45-76. Stanford, California: Atanford Univ. Press, 1995. 3. Jiang Wen, Devils on the Doorstep（鬼子來了）(2000)

Supplementary Readings: 1. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism, 1-46, London; New York: Verso, 2006 2. Arthur Henderson Smith, Chinese Characteristics, London: East Bridge, 2003 3. Barth, Daniel. “The Propagation of Racial Thought in Nineteenth-Century China.” Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Interactions, Nationalism, Gender and Lineage (Vol. II), 123-150. Netherlands, 2015.

Week 6 Oct 10. Orientalism Films: 1. Documentary: Robert J. Flaherty, Nanook of the North (1922) 2. Zhang Yimo: Raise the Red Lantern (大紅燈籠高高掛) (1991) 3. Yuan Zhang, Beijing Bastards（北京雜種） (1993)

Readings & Film for Presentation: 1. Edward Said. Introduction, In Orientalism, New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. 2. Chow, Rey. Visuality, Modernity, and Primitive Passions in Primitive Passions: Visuality, Sexuality, Ethnography, and Contemporary Chinese Cinema, 26-52. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. 3. Documentary: Michelangelo Antonioni, Chung Kuo (1972)

Supplementary Readings and Film: 1. Chow, Rey. China as documentary: some basic questions (inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni and Jia Zhangke). European Journal of Cultural Studies, 1-15.2006. (http://ecs.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/09/06/1367549413501482.full.pdf) 2. Lv, Xun. Nationalism and Internationalism: Sino-American Racial Perceptions of the Korean War. Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Interactions, Nationalism, Gender and Lineage (Vol. II), 123-150. Netherlands, 2015. 3. Cao de Benos, Alejandro. The Propaganda Game (2015)

Week 7 Oct 17. The Subaltern and Representation Film:

3 Documentary: Xu Tong, The Fourth Brother, (2013)

Reading & Film for Presentation: 1. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Can the Subaltern Speak?, In Rosalind C. Morris ed. Can The Subaltern Speak: Reflections on The History of an Idea. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. 2. Documentary: Xu Tong, Wheat Harvest, (2008)

Supplementary Reading: 1. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Explanation and Culture: Marginalia” in Out There: Marginalisation and Contemporary Cultures. New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art. 1990.

Week 8 Oct 24. Subjectivity and Hong Kong Cinema Guest Speaker: TBA Films: 1. 彭浩翔：Dream Home（維多利亞壹號）（2010） 2. 麦兆辉、庄文强：Overheard 3（竊聽風雲3）（2014） 3. 卓韻芝：Temporary Family（失戀急讓）（2014）

Readings & Film for Presentation: 1. 朗天：“什麼（才）是主體──循香港電影進入香港主體性論述”，《香港有我：主體性與香港電影》，（香港：文化工坊，2013）10-23 2. 彭麗君, 《黃昏未晚：后九七香港電影》，（香港：中文大學出版社，2010) 導論：香港電影研究，1-20；第六章, 本土與跨本土，131-166。 3. 翁子光： Port of Call （踏血尋梅）（2015） Submission: the Midterm Paper

Week 9 Oct 31. Affective Spaces in Hong Kong Cinema Films: 1. 袁建滔，McDull, prince de la bun (麦兜菠萝油王子) (2004) 2. Ann Hui, A Simple Life (桃姐) (2011) 3. To Kai Fung, Sparrow（文雀）(2008)

Readings & Film for Presentation: 1. Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance. Hong Kong:Hong Kong University Press, 1997. 2. 朗天：“ 香港電影文化保育：官方的缺席” 和“香港電影誰來保育”，《香港有我：主體性與香港電影》，（香港：文化工坊，2013）220-241 3. Ackbar Abbas, ‘Affective Spaces in Hong Kong/Chinese Cinema’, Cinema At the City’s Edge: Film and Urban Networks in East Asia, 25-35. Hong Kong: Hang

4 Kong University Press, 2010. 4. Fruit Chan, Durian Durian （榴蓮飄飄） (2000)

PART III: Resistance Week 10 Nov 7. Dogme 95 Films: 1. Lars Von Trier, Idiots (1998) 2. Richard Martini, Camera (2000) 3. Lars Von Trier, Breaking the waves (1996) 4. Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Readings & Film for Presentation: 1. Shari Roman. The Vow of Chastity; The Men Who Would Be Dogme. In Digital Babylon: Hollywood, Indiewood and Dogme 95, 41-55. LA: Long Eagle Publishing, 2003. 2. Jan Simons, “Von Trier’s Cinematic Games”, Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 60, No.1(Spring 2008), 3-13. 3. Jorn Rossing Jensen, “Film: Dogme is dead! Long Live Song and Dance”, The Independent Arts & Entertainment, (5 Nov 1999) http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-dogme-is-dead-long-live-song-an d-dance-1123522.html 4. Lars Von Trier, Dancer in the Dark (2000)

Week 11 Nov 14 . The Independent Film in Hong Kong Films: 1. Fruit Chan, Little Cheung （細路祥） (2000) 2. Tammy Cheung, Secondary School （中學）（2002） 3. King Cheung, KJ: Music and Life （音樂人生）（2009）

Readings & Film for Presentation: 1. Nicole Kempton, Performing the Margins: Locating Independent Cinema in Hong Kong. In Ester M. K. Cheung, Gina Marchetti, and Tan See-Kam ed., Hong Kong Screenscapes: From the New Wave to the Digital Frontier, 95-110. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univeristy Press, 2011. 2. Wendy Gan, Re-imagining Hong Kong-China from the Sidelines: Fruit Chan’s Little Cheung and Durian Durian. In Ester M. K. Cheung, Gina Marchetti, and Tan See-Kam ed., Hong Kong Screenscapes: From the New Wave to the Digital Frontier, 111-127. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2011. 3. Vincent Chui, Three Narrow Gates （三條窄路）(2009)

Week 12 Nov 21. The Independent Film in China

5 Films： 1. Yuan Zhang, Mama （媽媽）(1999) 2. Zhangke Jia, Xiaowu （小武）(1998) 3. Documentary: Du Haibin, 1428 (2009)

Reading & Film for Presentation: 1. Paul G Pickowicz and Yingjin Zhang, My Camera Doesn’t Lie: Truth, Subjectivity, and Audience in Chinese Independent Film and Video, In Paul G Pickowicz and Yingjin Zhang ed., From Underground to Independent: Alternative Film Culture in Contemporary China, Lanham, 23-46. Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. 2. Ying Liang, Taking Father Home （背鴨子的男孩） (2004)

Week 13 Nov 28. From Rebel to Insider Films: 1. Zhangke Jia, Still Life （三峽好人）(2006) 2. Yang Li, Blind Shaft （盲井）（2003） 3. Yang Li, Blind Mountain （盲山）（2007） 4. Yu Li, Lost in Beijing （蘋果） (2007)

Readings & Films for Presentation: 1. 賈樟柯，大片中彌漫細菌破壞社會價值，賈想1996-2008：賈樟柯電影手記， 186-202，北京：北京大學出版社，2009. 2. Edward Wong, “Cultural and Control: Chinese Director’s Path From Rebel to Insider” The New York Times, (Aug 13 2011) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/world/asia/14filmmaker.html?pagewanted=all 3. Documentary: Liang Zhao, Petition （上訪）（2009） 4. Documentary: Liang Zhao, Together （在一起） (2011)

Week 15 Dec 12. Submission: the Final Paper

Assessment - Attendance and participation ------10% - Reading Self-reflection ------20% - Group Presentation ------20% - Mid-term Paper ------20% (no more than 3000 words in Chinese, or no more than 4 pages in English) - Final Paper ------30% (no more than 5000 words in Chinese, or no more than 9 pages in English)

Outcomes-based Teaching and Learning 1. Knowledge Outcomes

6 - Holistic approach to acquiring knowledge: - Trans-disciplinary approach - Historical and contemporary studies, including comparison and contrast - Cross cultural contexts, including local, regional, and global - Specialized and professional knowledge: - Cultural approach to the study of contemporary living - Cultural embedding of representation and the media 2. Skills Outcomes (Generic and Discipline/Professional) - Textual and con-textual analysis - Cultural appreciation and cultural criticism - Critical and creative thinking - Visual literacy - Care for the wider community, concern for minority interests 3. Attitude Outcomes - Aware of multicultural communities and respect for the other - Being confident in expressing ones ideas - Board-minded but strong in critical evaluation

Supplementary Readings As not all students come to this course with solid foundations in the history, culture, and art of cinema, here is a list of supplementary readings students can read on their own to prepare for this course. However, a strong background in film studies is not a pre-requisite for this course. Individual student would be able to pick up some basic knowledge about cinema as the course goes on.

For Film Art and Film Language  Bazin, André. What Is Cinema. Translated by Hugh Gray. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1971.

 Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson 著, 曾偉禛譯. Film Art: An Introduction.

《電影藝術:形式與風格》. 台北: 美商麥格羅希爾, 2001.

 Kasdan, Margo, Christine Saxton, and Susan Tavernetti. The Critical Eye: An Introduction to Looking at Movies. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1993.  Metz, Christian. Film language; A Semiotics of the Cinema. Translated by Michael Taylor. New York : Oxford University Press, 1974.  http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/search/aScarratt%2C+Eliane/ascarratt+eliane/-2,-1,0,B/ browseScarratt, Eliane. Teaching Analysis of Film Language and Production. London: BFI, 2003.

For Film Culture and Film Studies in general  Branston, Gill. Cinema and Cultural Modernity. London: Open University, 2000.  Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge, 2006

7  Hill, John and Pamela Church Gibson. Film Studies: Critical Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.  Lehman, Peter. Defining Cinema. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1997.  Lu, Tonglin. Confronting Modernity in the Cinemas of Taiwan and Mainland China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.  Kracauer, Siegfried. Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality. New York : Oxford University Press, 1960.  Stam, Robert. Film Theory: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.

 Turner, Graeme 著, 林文淇譯. Film as Social Practice 《電影的社會實踐》. 台

北:遠流, 1997.

For Film History  Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. Third edition. New York, London: W.W. Norton, 1996.  Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (ed.). The Oxford History of World Cinema. London: Oxford, 1999.  Merritt, Greg. Celluloid Mavericks: The History of American Independent Film. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2000.  Thompson, Kristin, David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction. Boston : McGraw-Hill, 2003

For Cultural Studies  Michel Foucault, Colin Gordon ed. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980  Adorno, Theodor.W.. The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture. London: Routledge, 1991.  Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers. London: Vintage, 2000.  Benjamin, Walter. Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism. Translated by Harry Zohn. London: Verso, 1997.  Bucy, Erik P., ed. Living in the Information Age: A New Media Reader. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2002.  Childs, Peter. Modernism. London: Routledge, 2007.  Howells, Richard. Visual Culture. Cambridge, UK: Polity; Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2003.

Honesty in Academic Work: A Guide for Students and Teachers

The Chinese University of Hong Kong places very high importance on honesty in academic work submitted by students, and adopts a policy of zero tolerance on cheating and plagiarism. Any related offence will lead to disciplinary action including termination of studies at the University. All student assignments in undergraduate and

8 postgraduate programmes should be submitted via VeriGuide with effect from September 2008: https://academic.veriguide.org/academic/login_CUHK.jspx

Although cases of cheating or plagiarism are rare at the University, everyone should make himself/herself familiar with the content of this website and thereby help avoid any practice that would not be acceptable.

Section 1 What is plagiarism http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p01.htm

Section 2 Proper use of source material http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p02.htm

Section 3 Citation styles http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p03.htm

Section 4 Plagiarism and copyright violation http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p04.htm

Section 5 CUHK regulations on honesty in academic work http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p05.htm

Section 6 CUHK disciplinary guidelines and procedures http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p06.htm

Section 7 Guide for teachers and departments http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p07.htm

Section 8 Recommended material to be included in course outlines http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p08.htm

Section 9 Electronic submission of assignments via VeriGuide http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p09.htm

Section 10 Declaration to be included in assignments http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p10.htm