Movies for the classroom?

Purple Butterfly (2003???)

This movie is a historical look at China within modern times. It is a love story during political upheavel. It is a change of pace to see China in the modern era. The time period of when Japan occupied parts of China is a current event and an emotional one within China today.

It is rated "R", so if you plan to use please review it first.

Murder by Death (1976)

This movie is an American comedy with Charlie Chan as a character. This is perfect to show American stereotypes of Chinese in the movies/U.S.A. Great for discussion

[Edit by="sbaker on Feb 18, 4:47:14 PM"][/Edit]

More Movies for the classroom

I do not know why I left these two off my list, because I use them every year.

The Cup (2000)

Based on a true story of a Tibetian monk and his love for World Cup soccer. I use it to show what life is like for a monk and do some comparing to the students. Very funny and the soccer connection makes great for the whole class.

Little Buddha (1993)

A story about reincarnation within the Buddhist religion. It is a modern story that begins in the U.S. and ends up in Nepal. I use the back story of Buddha to compare with Jesus.

Warning- you see the butt of Keanu Reeves for a brief time

I have always wanted to show Anh Li's "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" in class to show Taiwan and Chinese traditions vs modernization. It is light humor, universal (screenplay by an American), and the basis for the American film "Tortilla Soup" (not very good, in my opinion, attempt to "Latinize" the story.

The Chinese film shows family; a widower raising three daughters, all very independent and showing promise in modern Taiwanese society. We can see business, education, a budding adult's viewpoints, set in the crowded Taibei lifestyle.

I would appreciate a similar film about the modern People's Republic of China. Our school is on the Copernican 4-4 schedule, so there is little time. As modern China is not covered by the May CST, the use of such a film is not good in the world history curriculum.

However, if you have a cultural geography class, there would be time.

I might bounce the film off of the Japanese film, "Tampopo" which covers a lot of social facets in 1980s Japan, many of which are still present, for a compare/contrast exercise.

I would raise one question, among a few, "Is Japan the developmental model for the rest of East Asia?"

Just some thoughts,

I show "Farewell My Concubine" as part of Asian Studies - it's a little edgy, given the obvious homosexuality of the protagonist and the open exploitation by sexually predatory opera bigwigs. But it's also a great way to review Chinese history we've already covered of the years following the demise of the last imperial dynasty (from the traditions of the old days, through the Japanese conquest, the arrival of Kuomintang troops, the 1949 Communist vistory, through to the Cultural Revolution and the murder of the Four Olds - and friendships), and to introduce the Beijing Opera (the first in a strand I'm working on - which includes Korean pansori, and Japanese kanuki and noh drama).

There's also the opportunity to highlight the use of imagery/symbolism/motifs in cinema - the loss of the protagonist's fifth finger, and his denial of his status as male as a precondition of winning acccepatnce and fame...

Students really enter the world the movie portrays. Finally, we discuss the director's own experiences of postwar China - as a child, he turned in his own father during the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Sobering.

Ray

I notice you don't include "The Last Emperor" - a firmly Western film, of course, but an excellent window into 20th century Chinese history up to and including the Cultural Revolution.

I show this after we've studied the slow demise of China following the Opium War, and the benighted rtenure of the Empress Dowager, Ci Xi (not a pleasant lady at all). Students really enjoy the movie, as it paints a sympathetic and largely accurate portrait of a lonely boy and lost adult.

As with "Farewell My Concubine" there are a couple of difficult scenes - particularly in the first reel when the protagonist cuts his wrists in a vain (no pun intended!) attempt at suicide. There's also the moment when he flings his pet mouse against one of the heavy wooden doors of the Forbidden City (ironically, at this point, the city is now forbidding to him - he is not allowed to leave its confines). However, this last scene is an opportunity to discuss the visual language of cinema and its use of allegory and symbolism.

This is a reasonably accurate depiction of unfolding events, told largely in flashback from his imprisonment, ending with the Cultural Revolution and the new China (this last emperor, Pu Yi, died during that period, a rather middling gardener...), from the last days of the Qing dynasty and the gradual erosion of Pu Yi's standing, through his years as the puppet emperor of Manchkuo, and capture by Soviet troops at the end of the Second World War and subsequent ten years of 're-education".

For more historic background formation check out http://www.royalty.nu/Asia/China/PuYi.html
or 'The Last Emperor" by Edward Behr (Bertolucci's movie was based on this book in large part)

Ray

I also showed "The Last Emperor" to my ninth grade foreign film class. They seemed to really like it, except for the fact that I could only get the uncut version, so the film ended up being three and half hours long! What made the film powerful becamd bogged down with unneccesary details about his accounting for his crimes in working with the Japanese during and before WWII.

To help your students understand the huge change in Chinese history during the turn of the century and after, this film is a great choice - just mae sure to get the theater release!

Another good Chinese film is "The Joy Luck Club." My eleventh grade class reads the book then watches the film.

In my opinion, which is slightly biased because I am an English teacher, the novel is far more powerful then the film. Each chapter is interwoven with symbolism and meaning, and at the end they get tied together very well with a theme.

Although the film doesn't have as much of the multiple themes, it is a good rendition of the book. It keeps most of the important stories and sweeps away the boring ones. I think the reason why the film stays so true to the book is that the author, Amy Tan, both co-write the script and was a producer on the film. Of course, most of my students preferred the movie; they found it easier to understand.

The film can be a great jumping off point for Chinese history - namely the Japanese invasion in the late 1930's. When Jing Mei's mother Suyan is running from the Japanese and is forced to abandon her twin babies, I ask the students why she is running. They have no idea why everyone is in such a rush, so I end the novel with a lesson on "The Rape of Nanking," which none of my students had even heard of. They are shocked by what they learn.