Raise the Red Lantern

Link

See the link above for an old entry on Raise the Red Lantern!

Also, here is a history of Chinese opera:

http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/archives/a_short_history_of_chinese_opera.php

This former student has an video of this type of opera posted at his Multiply site:

http://xxiaojoex.multiply.com/video/item/1/Chinese_Peking_Opera?replies_read=1

Study Guide for Final (Summer 2009) -- part 1

Hmmm...Kristin Chenoweth was certainly a dazzling Cunegonde.  I wonder how she would be as Nora!

That said, let's start part 1 of our study guide for the final.

On Monday, we finished discussing Raise the Red Lantern and talked a bit about "Stale Mates" as it shed light on the film.  Then I introduced drama/theater and Ibsen's A Doll's House (1879).  Remember that drama refers to the written form of the play or the playscript and the playwright's intentions.  Theater refers to the performed form of the play, reflecting the director's intentions, the audience, and the director's central idea about the play.  The central idea is an especially key concept.  Without a central idea, a performance goes all over the place.  With a central idea, the play is definitely worth seeing even if you've seen the play before.

We also talked about realism (psychological, individual) vs. naturalism (sociological, group) as well as Raymond Williams' key terms: dominant (present-day and mainstream), emergent (foreshadowing of the future), and residual (remains of the past).  For example, in A Doll's House, the role that Nora plays in her marriage reflects the dominant idea of True Womanhood.  Mrs. Linden's work for Helmer could be considered emergent as clerical work was not considered to be women's work in 1879.  For more information on these terms, see the following link from Arizona State University:

http://www.public.asu.edu/~kheenan/courses/101/fall00/101analysis.htm#DOMINANT,%20RESIDUAL,%20EMERGENT

We also discussed the term anachronism (something that is out of time like a wristwatch on a Roman warrior). 

We watched some scenes from two film versions of A Doll's House.  Both were from 1973, and I suspect that the central idea for both was to capture the attention of the era's movie audiences.  Joseph Losey's film (starring Jane Fonda and David Warner) took liberties with the play in an attempt to make it a better film and help audiences understand what Nora had done.  Patrick Garland's film (starring Claire Bloom and Anthony Hopkins) was more faithful to Ibsen even though it did go outside the playscript and show Krogstad with his boys.

I wish that I could have shown this scene!  And I wish that there were a still of Jane Fonda at the confectioner's shop.


I'm afraid that this picture of Parisian macaroons is the best I can do!  They certainly look prettier than the half-price kosher macaroons that my husband and I buy after Passover.


On Tuesday, we continued to discuss A Doll's House, and we looked at a few more theatrical versions of the play. 

Did you know that A Doll's House was written in Norwegian?

These are a few of the links that we looked at:

 First is Mabou Mines' experimental production:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHn2FxLJOoI

Next is a more traditional British production starring Gillian Anderson and Toby Stephens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9IU5yvIKkQ

Here is a link to Ingmar Bergman's adaptation set in the 1950s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb3CIsynKa4







For a review of the Mabou Mines production, follow this link:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=950CE4D7103BF937A15752C1A9659C8B63

Here is the Gothamist's interview with director Lee Breuer.  He explains the reasons behind his casting of very tall women and very short men, and then he talks about audiences' responses to this casting:

http://gothamist.com/2009/02/27/director_lee_breuer_mabou_mines_dol.php

For reviews of the production starring Gillian Anderson, see these links:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/charlesspencer/5354252/A-Dolls-House-at-the-Donmar-Warehouse---review.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/may/24/theatre-review

I can't find a review of The Hunger Artists' version. 

Wednesday we watched Act 3 of Patrick Garland's version of A Doll's House.  Weren't Anthony Hopkins and Claire Bloom amazing!


We also talked about applying stages of moral development to the characters in A Doll's House.

For more information about Carol Gilligan's theory of women's moral development, see this link:

http://www.slideshare.net/drburwell/carol-gilligan

(It's actually a PowerPoint presentation that you may download.)

For more information about Lawrence Kohlberg's theory, see this link:

http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm

And here is a link to my Multiply entry on A Doll's House with many pictures:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/20/A_Dolls_House_More_Pictures

As we finish up our quick unit on drama, remember Avery Brooks' comparison:

films tell stories; theater is a place to explore ideas

Below is a scene from Oregon State University's production of A Doll's House.  Yes, yes, yes, it is set in the 1950s.


Thursday we discussed the French author Voltaire's satire, Candide (1759).  Candide is very much a product of the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason (1649-1789), a time when philosophers, scientists, and writers began to question authority and received wisdom.  Keep in mind that, though, that the French king was an absolute monarch and that people still believed in the divine right of kings there.  (Voltaire's king was Louis XIV.)  A satire not only holds up a mirror to nature and indicates problems in society but also proposes a solution.  (What did you make of Voltaire's solution in chapter 30?)  Satires may take various forms.  Candide is the story of a picaro who wanders around the world and has a series of adventures.  Some other satires are Gulliver's Travels (in the form of a travel narrative) or The Colbert Report (in the form of a right-wing commentator's show). 

For more about the Colbert Report, see this link:

http://www.colbertnation.com/home

To get an idea of the picaro, here is a video from My Name Is Earl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYlhCFNRRXg

Or you may find that Candide is more like Wile E. Coyote.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTWnjFqTDk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfAlyLNBG5Y


Finally, here are some YouTube videos of Kristin Chenoweth as Cunegonde.  The first is her performance of "Glitter and Be Gay."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWzewHTcHew

The next is her performance of "You Were Dead You Know," a duet with Candide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImlvydPgfBg

Study Guide for Midterm part three (Summer 2009)

This week we had our first presentation: Sean's presentation on the life of Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican Black Nationalist, entrepreneur, and Pan-Africanist who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Black Star Line.    Sean also showed us parts of a documentary on Garvey's life:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-125761695547273887

Below is a picture of members of the UNIA at the Universal Publishing House, one of the organization's businesses.



This week we returned to the novel and moved on to Chinese literature.  (Remember the definition of the novel -- an fictional prose narrative of at least 50,000 words which emphasizes character over plot, focuses on a protagonist with whom we are supposed to sympathize, and has a realistic-seeming setting.  We also talked about mimesis, the extent to which art imitates life.)  Monday we began discussing one of the Four Classic Chinese Novels: The Story of the Stone (written during the 1740s or 1750s and published in 1791).  Its authors are Cao Xueqin (volumes 1 to 3) and Gao E (volumes 4 to 5).  Yes, the English translation of The Story of the Stone is five volumes long.  However, the excerpts that we read are from the first volume.

We began by discussing the frame narrative that takes us back to the beginning of time when the Chinese goddess Nu Wa built the sky but rejected the jade stone that became Bao-Yu, the protagonist of The Story of the Stone.  (Below is a picture of Nu Wa with her husband Fu Xi.)

We also met the Fairy Disenchantment who will appear again in Bao-yu's dream in chapter 5.  Then we met the Buddhist and Daoist monks who carry the stone off to be reborn as a human being, as Bao-Yu.  Next, since this is a fairly extensive frame narrative for a five-volume work, we met Zhen Shi-yi, a man who will become a Daoist monk when his daughter is kidnapped.  However, this part of the frame narrative is not important to the excerpts in our book, but Zhen Shi-yi and his daughter will be important later on as she becomes a servant in Bao-Yu's enormous household.


Once the frame narrative ends, we finally meet Bao-yu and Dai-yu in their human incarnations.  As it turns out, they are cousins.  In the next section we discussed, Dai-yu has come to live with Bao-yu's family.  From the picture above, you may imagine that this family is not only prosperous but also overwhelming.  And yes, we meet Bao-yu, the only boy among all these women.  (Remember that he is the only *living* son and that his brother who died was a perfect young man.)


We also watched the trailer for the recent TV miniseries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHUGdUH-3fI

I mentioned three Chinese religions: Confucianism (some call this more of a political philosophy), Daoism, and Buddhism.

For more information about Confucianism,

http://www.askasia.org/teachers/essays/essay.php?no=38

For more information about Daoism,

http://www.askasia.org/teachers/essays/essay.php?no=40&PHPSESSID=cf3a1e7b0f8e79502f7f76f32db9f031

For more information about Chinese Buddhism,

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/buddhism/chinese_buddhism.asp

http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/bud/5budhism.htm

Below is a picture of a Daoist temple in Sichuan, China.


Tuesday we moved on to chapters 5 and 17.  Chapter 5 covers Bao-yu's dream of initiation where he meets the Fairy Disenchantment, watches her Dream of Golden Days, and marries her sister Ke-Qing.  The Fairy Disenchantment informs Bao-yu that he has "lust of the mind."  We might call him unconventional.  She says that Bao-yu's ancestors have asked her to meet with him.  Do you think that Bao-yu changes his ways after this dream?  Then in chapter 17 Bao-yu's father (Jia Zheng who epitomizes the masculine ideal of his class) tests his son by asking him to name various places in the extensive gardens.  These gardens have been built to host Bao-yu's sister, the Imperial Concubine.  On the surface, Jia Zheng seems to treat his son's suggestions scornfully...yet he will use them.  What do you think of the narrative's depiction of nature?  Or Bao-yu's remarks on nature?  And his father's response?

Below is a picture of the Grandview Garden in Beijing, a tourist site that replicates the garden in The Story of the Stone.



To look at another approach to parenting, masculinity, and nature, we also watched some scenes from the Korean film, Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring Again.  If you would like to watch these scenes from Spring and Fall again, here are links to YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuc-o3KSxBo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8F23jIXrr8


Below is a picture of director Kim Duk-ki in the role of the old monk's adoptive son when he comes back to the monastery after doing his time.


Wednesday Bryan gave his presentation on the history of Liberia, one of the few African countries that was independent during the 19th century.  This country was settled by freed slaves from the United States and elsewhere.  Ironically or not so ironically, these settlers battled with and mistreated the indigenous people.  (Remember the house boys and house girls that Bryan told us about.)  In its history, Liberia has had only one president who was a descendant of the indigenous people, Samuel K. Doe.  Liberia's recent history has also been bloody.

 I am going to try to track down the videos that Bryan showed us, but for now, here are pictures from Liberia:


The picture below is Charlotte Hess' photograph of schoolchildren in Monrovia, Liberia's capital.  The photograph is from the Digital Library of the Commons.


Below is a picture of Charles Taylor, Liberia's former president who is now being tried at the Hague for the crimes that he committed.



We also watched the Chinese film Raise the Red Lantern (1991, dir. Zhang Yimou).  Below are links to YouTube videos of this film in case you would like to watch it again more closely.
(Thank you, Xirui!!)

art 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiQmkpHz5s0

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JabrhH5XVM

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qapbesdj9I

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3BY5gUm_VM

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nE9HvuoUeI

Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idKLdJEYWLY

Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idKLdJEYWLY

Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8FcZoeyA_g

Part 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP9eojD_rck

Part 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQHe0s8D624

Part 11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB5bA0mx-wE

Part 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v9ViAWnnsY

Part 13: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-yENcPaDWQ

Part 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc4LrUaKGxU

Part 15: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRbbjneaPx0

Part 16: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBEnaIRWEaI

Part 17: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhM709-_gE

Part 18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFoXjpjiw_E

Part 19: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62NDyH9JJsc

Which visual elements jump out at you as you watch the film again?  Which aural elements?  Do you believe that Songlian is a tragic heroine?

Study Guide for the Midterm (part 1)

These are the works that will be on the midterm:

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Lady Mary Wortley Montague's Turkish Embassy Letters (to Alexander Pope, Miss Sarah Chiswell, and the Countess of Mar [Lady Mary's sister])

excerpts from Evliya Celebi's Book of Travels (the whole is ten volumes)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (We also discussed his "An Image of Africa" and Caryl Phillips' interview.)

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

Candide by Voltaire

excerpts from Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

excerpts from Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

"Stale Mates" by Zhang Ailing or Eileen Chang

Raise the Red Lantern, dir. Zhang Yimou

excerpts from Xueqin Cao 's The Story of the Stone/Dream of the Red Chamber


The exam will be in two parts.  The first is the subjective exam (60 pts.).  This will be a take home essay.  The second is the objective exam (40 pts.).  I will ask you to fill in the blanks, answer multiple choice questions, and give short answers.   For the most part, the questions will be cover what we discuss in class.  I may ask you to list three to five things that you learned from reading this blog. 

Topics discussed for each work:

Heart of Darkness (1899, 1902)-- between 19th & 20th century, imperialism, history of Congo/DR Congo, frame narrative, Marlow as narrator, Marlow as hero/Kurtz as hero, hero's journey, Marlow & women, Marlow & Africans, Marlow & Europeans who are not English, is Marlow Conrad?/is Conrad Marlow?, Apocalypse Now, An Image of Africa (Achebe's response), Conrad's decision to write in English

Turkish Embassy Letters (written 1716-1718, published 1763) -- Lady Mary's sense of audience, her perspective on the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, orientalism, her correspondents, her visit with the wife of the Grand Vizier and then with the wife of the Kabya "the difference between an old devote and a young beauty," letters published *after* Lady Mary's death & even then they were edited, genre of lifewriting



Book of Travels -- ten volume work, Celebi traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Albania, today's Iraq, Egypt), in the section we read he visits the site of a famous battle and advises the Caliph on how to preserve a ???'s gravesite from desecration, how does Celebi portray the land & people?

Things Fall Apart (1958) -- one of the first modern African novels but not the first (Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard was published in 1946.), Achebe's depiction of 19th c. Igbo/Ibo society, Okonkwo-'s conflict with his son Nwoye and its outcome, impact of Christianity & British rule, Okonkwo & his wives, the society's attitude towards war, is Okonkwo at odds with his own village (Umofia)?, his conflict with his father, proverbs, what does Umofia value?, Okonkwo's relationship with Ikemefuna, what falls apart in the novel?, is Okonkwo a hero?  Is he a tragic hero?, roles of tradition & ritual, is Okonkwo flexible?  is his village?  why is flexibility important and how does it affect the outcome?, feel free to refer to "An Image of Africa" and interviews with Achebe