Love, Death, and Gender in Chinese Films
This course introduces students to the treatment of recurring themes in Chinese films such as those related to various forms of love, death, and gender roles. Specifically, the course examines issues of love (passion, desire, and revenge), death, sexuality, masculinity and femininity in relation to those of duty (filial piety, loyalty to the state, etc.), politics and nationalism. The course will also focus on the issues of gender politics and female sexuality of various ideological persuasions and psychological dispositions and on how such issues are articulated cinematically both from historical and contemporary perspectives.
The course not only introduces students to Chinese culture/society through the cinematic perspective, but acquaints them with a knowledge of Chinese film aesthetic (the cinematic language) and film making on the other. The comparative approach adopted in the course will enable students to appreciate and explore cultural differences and similarities between Chinese and Western cultures in terms of the issues under discussion. The course fulfills Multicultural requirements and counts towards Chinese Minor and East Asian Studies Major.