History 471

With the end of the semester here, I have definitely learned a lot in this class.  I enjoyed learning about each person’s project.  Each project was unique and interesting.  I think this seminar was a great experience for everyone.  I just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback on my own project, as well as any discussion I had on other materials.  I hope everyone has great success on their exams!

Corrie

I still can’t believe how close we are to the end of the semester!

Anyway, everyone’s been doing great on the presentations so far.  I have really enjoyed the texts, images, and videos everyone has incorporated.  I think such things really make an impact on a presentation!  Excited to see the rest!

Howdy!

Is everyone enjoying the snow?  How weird is our weather?! 

Anyway, I just wanted to remind everyone that my video for my presentation was already posted earlier, (about three posts below I believe) called “Video in Advance.” 

How is everyone enjoying the film?  I think it is important to recognize that there is no plot.  With a film like this, I don’t think there needs to be one.  Director Yang intended for his audience to  pick up on the other themes he has created, therefore he chose to focus less on a plot.

What did everyone think of the security guard that stole money from the girls?  It is amazing how corruption seems to exist everywhere, yet in this setting the crime was matched with punishment. 

 Another major theme that I see is how hard women have to work to make a living.  Tao has 3-4 different jobs, so that she can live in a small dormitory-like room.  Even with Anna (the German) who has to resort to prostitution just to get out of the city, represents the hardness of urban life that these women have chose. 

Although at first I found Blind Shaft a little disturbing, I got past that and began to realize the importance of such a film! 

It is amazing how I never thought to notice that there wasn’t any music playing in the background!  I think the overpowering sounds of machinery provided the background music for me, which is why I didn’t notice the absence of music.  Such a backround noise made the setting of the film cold and industrialized, making it seem like the characters (in the mine) only lived for the industry as a way to make a living.  Any sentiment or meaning to life seems to be gone in the industrial world.  There is no music, celebrations or morality–Only money and corruption.

Here is a link to the video I plan on using for my final presentation.  As I will explain tomorrow, I plan on focusing on the changing role expected for a Chinese woman to play in her family (as a wife, mother, daughter-in-law). 

Choose the Life that Fits You (2006) by Shirley Meng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geeitqvi3lU 

This video features a woman named Shirley Meng who’s dreams to be a career woman were “crushed by society’s expectations.”  Growing up in the Mao era, she had expected to fulfill her dreams without any conflict, but after four years in college she was denied admittance to a professional academy because she was female.  This occurred in 1982, a time when all of Mao’s revolution practices were shunned and frowned upon. 

After reading the texts for the upcoming documentary, I found many important opinions and personal experiences within the readings very helpful. 

In the article “Democracy-Sooner or Later” I found Thurston, Pei and Ogden to make great points, all commemorating each other’s.  Each scholar seems to find the Chinese ideal of chaos linked to democracy.  Such democratic reforms; threatening the regime’s rule, have resulted in a higher need for economic reform instead of dealing with politics. 

In addition to each scholar in “Democracy” Sue Williams also saw “hopeful things slowly happening” during the process of filming the documentary.  For example, she mentioned how China’s large cities (Beijing) were so much more liberal and told her to “film whatever she wanted.”

After reading the interview with S. Williams, it will be interesting to see how the interviewees reacted and participated in the interviews, just as she described. 

p.s.  Has anyone else had trouble posting?  I make sure to copy my entire post now before I hit the “publish” button since I have already lost a whole post without doing so.  It will either go to a new blank post or go to the page where I can find my last 15 posts, and will erase everything I have written!~So be cautious :0)

Yay–I love the snow!  I was pleasantly suprised to wake up to this white bliss, it’s about time!  I was afraid we weren’t going to get any snow this winter. 

Well, let’s get to some relevant stuff.  Red Sorghum!  This novel is such a great piece of literary history.  It is clearly a work of art made by the Fifth Generation in attempt to educate their peers on the events that happened due to Mao’s negligence. 

With my final project focusing on the women of this new generation, I have also come into contact and realized the importance of such media.  Red Sorghum includes blunt details of the expected role of women before and during Mao’s rule, which this generation has condemned.  Since my project is focusing on the expected role of women after Mao, I couldn’t help seeing the repeated message throughout Red Sorghum for readers to “come home” or return to cherish the values of the old generation before Mao.