Monday, 7/30, afternoon session - Michael Berry, UCLA

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

One part of the Professor Berry's lecture that stood out to me was when he said that no one is going to make a 100 million dollar film if they are not going to have access to the Chinese market. Some of our films are therefore censored in order to ensure sales in China. Due to the quota system only a limited number of films will reach China, so Professor Berry clarified that only our box office hits are generally catered to a Chinese audience. The notion that these films are censored to the standards set by the Chinese government is a little disturbing. While we have positive consequences of a large Chinese fanbase such as more Asian representation in films, I can't let go of the thought that American films are being censored. 

[Carissa Sadlier]

What textbook are you using for Ancient China? I found the idea of calling San Mao China's Mickey Mouse so telling about the two different cultures. In America Mickey Mouse is always the hero, things may go wrong, but they always work out and he is top dog in the end. In China, San Mao starts out destitute and in the end he is still kicked around, beaten and held down. 

 

[Zoey McKinney]

I found the work of Xu Bing to be particularly interesting and useful for work with students. His New English Calligraphy and "A Book From the Sky" challenge our ideas of language and China as an "other." For most of us, a page of Chinese characters is meaningless. The forms are so different from our own characters that they are impossible for us to read. The new form of writing Xu Bing created, which uses English letters to form hanzi, looks just as indecipherable at first, but with effort can be read by someone who speaks English. One of the messages that I take away from this is that foreign languages, though strange to us, are used in the same ways to express many of the same ideas that we have. I think it is easy to look at foreign writing and feel distant from it, as though it has nothing to do with you. In truth, the content of the writing might be very familiar to you if you could decipher it. I would love to add "Look! What Do You See?" to my library, because I think it could get students in a different headspace, where Chinese is not so alien, but actually might have a lot of similarities with their own language. 

[Mayra Brady]

Professor Barry showed us unforgettable visuals regarding propaganda slogans.  I think showing comic/images is a great way to start a conversation with the students.  I would probably analyze an image as a whole class and model how to look at an image.  Then I would have them analyze in small groups and get different ideas.  Images/slogans are great non-threatening activities students can participate.   

[Boyan Zhang]

In the recent decades, Chinese movie industry has become more and more properous, and the quality of Chinese movies are improving as well. Sometimes I like to share my favorite Chinese movies with my students by incorporating video clips in the movie to my lesson plans. For instance, when we learned about people's age and zodiac, I played part of the movie by Jackie Chen "12 Zodiacs" to give them a sense how Chinese people used 12 zodiacs in their lives in ancient times. Jackie Chen's "12 Zodiacs" is a Hollywood style film with a lot of action scenes and adventures, as well as Chinese culture, my students loved the movie, and the concept of Chinese zodiac deeply embeded in their momery. Another example is that when we learn the story about Monkey King, I played several video clips of the various versions of the Monkey King movies, and asked students to restore the story through the movie clips they watched, and analyze the different perspectives of each version. 

[Martin Castillo]

One of the first Chinese/Hong Kong actors to go rouge was Jackie Chan. From perusing articles, it seems that he has found a new money tree and therefore needs to self-sensor or show his loyalty to his new "ma$ter$". "In December 2012, Chan caused outrage when he criticised Hong Kong as a "city of protest", suggesting that demonstrators' rights in Hong Kong should be limited. The same month, in an interview with Phoenix TV, Chan stated that the United States was the "most corrupt" country in the world, which in turn angered parts of the online community. Other articles situated Chan's comments in the context of his career and life in the United States, including his "embrace of the American film market" and his seeking asylum in the United States from Hong Kong triads.^[143]

In April 2016, Chan was named in the Panama Papers.

[Zoey McKinney]

I think "The Great Wall" is a really interesting case because as a movie it had so much going for it and it was such a box office disappointment. I know in the U.S. the narrative I was hearing about it leading up to its release was about "white washing." Of course we have plenty of examples of white washing characters by casting white actors in Asian roles (e.g. Emma Stone in Aloha, Tilda Swinton in Dr. Strange), and a lot of people felt that Matt Damon leading the cast of this movie was white washing because it took a leading man role away from an Asian actor. However the difference was that this movie was directed by a Chinese director, who cast a white actor purposefully to appeal to a larger audience. He wanted his film, which was rooted in Chinese culture and a huge Chinese cast, to make a mark globally. However in the U.S. we are very multi-cultural, which brings with it a lot of problems, such as lack of representation in the media. A lot of people balked at the idea of the white savior in a Chinese film, while the Chinese director clearly did not see it that way. This shows a disconnect between our two cultures that we are still trying to navigate.

[Martin Castillo]

When introducing or applying bias, students can use the images provided by Dr. Berry. It is an easy way for students to also understand point of view. At times students may find it challenging to find these in their readings and to be able to write about it. The use of images could facilitate this. In addition, using clips of movies in a historical setting are great hooks for students who more and more want to see and feel the abstract, in this case perhaps reading a chapter or a novel. 

Dr. Berry's lecture chronicled the way different mediums were used in the 20th century in China. But, what I found most disturbing is Hollywood's willingness to be allowed to be controlled by its Chinese investors. True, they are "controlled" by the American studios who hire them, but it is telling what happens in Hollywood. I would like to think that once movies carry a more political message that these actors would know when to say enough is enough. Entertainment is one thing, advocating a party line that oppresses those who watch their movies is another. We cannot depend on film critics for analysis of what message a film is sending, we must also be critical of what is presented in front of us and our children. 

[Daniel Horowitz]

It's iteresting that performance art in the US had its heydey in the 1950s and 1960s, when visual artists wrere looking for ways to explore away from the canvas and two dimensions. The Chinese performance artists we saw today certainly seemed to give their entirety to their art, I probably would rather look at a painting of a worker, farmer, and soldier fromthe Mao era than a guy bleeding and chained to the ceiling.

[Jess Meyer]

I found the propaganda cartoons / posters we looked at fascinating.  My students and I already look at propaganda from the Soviet Union so I would like them to do a comparative activity between the posters from the Soviet period and the Mao period to see what similarities and differences they can see.  (To add even more dimension I could have the students then look at Cuban and North Korean posters and look for the influences of China & Soviet art in how those revolutions / regimes are portrayed as well.  Students could look for the changes and continuities in how communist regimes portray themselves through the twentieth century.)

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Dr. Berry's presentation was fascinating.  The more seminars I attend made possible by the USC US-China Institute, the more I realize, how much more I have to learn about this amazing country, its history, and culture.  I loved Xu Bing's art.  I am planning on sharing his work Books from the Ground written entirely with Emojis with my class. My students would love to see this work.  I would love to copy a few lines for groups of five students who would cooperate to "translate" the text into English and present it to the class.  I will prompt a discussion among students asking why we need words, why is the word meaning important?  

[Jennifer Place]

i was struck by Professor Berry's statement regarding our effort (or lack thereof) to understand other cultures, when on the other hand, American culture and its representations in art, literature, and film are often well known in other countries.  I have become involved in a group that brings American students to China, and have seen how true this statement is.  Although text versions of primary sources will surely be useful in remedying this problem, I believe the students will also respond well and perhaps more enthusiastically to film.  In visiting the 798 Art District and M50 district, I have found myself wanting to know more about contemporary art in China.  Professor Berry's lecture will be very useful for the next trip.  I am looking forwrd to doing more research on each of the artists he spoke about. 

[Wen Shi]

The afternoon session covered lots of topics, and some of the topics souded really familiar to me and some were not, so I was able to review what I knew and got to learn something new.

Lesson plan ideas:

The policital cartoon is definitely something I would have a classroom discussion about. I am thinking of assigning a jigsaw acitity that I will have a couple groups in my class. Each group gets a political cartoon of the second Sino-Japanese War. They will analyze the meaning behind their assigned caroon after they finishing reading the assigned the articles. We could have a whole class discussion afterwards.

The recreation/ combination of Chinese symbols and English letters as well as the children's book are something I definitely would try with my 6th graders Mandarin Introduction kids who think Chinese charcaters are amzing but also terrifying at the same time. By introducing the artform of calligraphy, the students will learn to appreciate the beauty and art style of Chinese calligraphy and able to udnerstand the meaning because of the spelling of English words.

The contemporary art work based on contemporary issues in Chinese society is something that I want to use art gallery or art walk in my class which students can pick one art work that they are interested in and research the social and politcal issues behind it. The final work will be students walk in the classroom and they get to ask questions to their classmates and answer questions from their classmates.

Sanmao is a great cartoon that I can use in class as a conversation/talking exercise for my immersion students. After learning about the history background of the story, students get to pick and choose a cartoon episode and they can put narratives next to each picture. The final presentation will be students tell the story of the episode they choose.

Takaways:

I just couldn't understand that how could billions of people were under control of a Gang of Four...

 

[Jessica Rodarte]

During this afternoon's session with Dr. Berry, I was enthralled by the convergence of Chinese Film with Hollywood.  In particular, I was really interested in the way that Hollywood has become a part of the Chinese Film industry in recognizable ways to both the Chinese and the American population.  In contrast to this, the Chinese Film industry has made its way into Hollywood without Americans being aware and recognizing the Chinese influence and integration.  There's something genius about this, while at the same time, there's a social critique of American "exceptionalism" making American society "blind" to the effects of other cultures on American cultural forms and on society as a whole.

In thinking about how to use this in my classroom, I think a discussion on this would be excellent in a lesson on globalization.  I haven't figured out how I would want to use it, but I see this as part of an amazing discusion on the impact of globalization on the diffusion, syncretism, and transformation of cultural forms.

[Kim Leng]

I just found out that Xu Bing had an exhibit at the LACMA in 2014 - 2015.  http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/xu-bing.  Did anyone get a chance to view it?  I did not know about Xu Bing’s Square Word Calligraphy until this afternoon’s presentation. For this particular subject, I want to collaborate with an art teacher.  This will cover the historical and cultural content of the art standards and relates to diversity. It will also cover standard 2.1:  Solve a visual arts problem that involves the effective use of the elements of art and the principles of design. We can itroduce the artist Xu Bing and some of his works with a focus on Square Word Calligraphy.  Ask students if they are able to decode the text and discuss artist’s purpose for this art piece. 

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