[Daniel Horowitz]

The video does a good job showing how Kabuki theatre reflected, exagerated, and lampooned Japanese society. I like the musical accompaniment. I also like how the Khan Academy lessons end with a historical discussion not dissimilar to the discussions we have here at the East Asian forums. This is a resource I can definitely use with my students and it's a great way to enhance the history curriculum. It shows how history is both storytelling and discussion, and sometimes debate. It is an evolving, organic, dynamic process.

[Daniel Horowitz]

This is quite a resource for cartography. I found searching through the photo images a bit random, though interesting nonetheless. They are quite different from the images in our history texts, which tend to depict historical events. There is a picture of a bride and groom from 1865. This isn't an image we would see in a history text (unless they were historical figures), but it's an amazing glimpse into the past and a great depiction of historical costume.

[Daniel Horowitz]

Thank you for posting. I attended a Stanford History workshop titled "Reading like a Historian", which had a strong emphasis on multiple perspectives. I was able to find the "Invasion of Nanking" lesson by searching "Nanking". This shows how different textbooks from different countries portray the event quite differently. I will use this with my students as an excellent example of secondary source spin as well.

[Daniel Horowitz]

Probably the biggest take-away from the seminar is the realization of how rich and extensive visual resources can be. I would not have considered looking for postcards or sheet music imagery before the seminar. Now I find it important to include imagery from everyday life to remind students that history is not always about conflict. We saw imagery of Ukiyo-e, the “floating world” of everyday life that gives us a wonderful glimpse into the past.

We also saw many examples of propaganda, some with great artistic merit. Can we consider some of the great works of Western Art that were commissioned by the church for a particular purpose propaganda as well? I used propaganda as the driving theme of my lesson plan. It’s a great tool for seeing multiple perspectives, as well as an explanation for why so much conflict occurred during the Cold War.

We also saw how film can be used to tell intimate family stories and political rhetoric as well. With the internet it is very easy to bring imagery into the classroom as well as film. It is important to learn that there is more to Korean history than a single war, and we saw in Tokyo Story a view of post-war Japan that is not present in our history texts.  The films of Chinese director Yimou Zhang give us a fascinating glimpse into everyday life in China during various historic periods.

So I now have a wealth of resources that I can use in the classroom, and I value the importance of sharing individual, personal stories, as well as imagery connected to major historical events.

[Daniel Horowitz]

Thanks for posting. These posters are great resources for dicsuusing art as propaganda, and to give students an idea of how the Communist government viewed Chinese society. I very much enjoyed the activity we did in class, trying to determine the message behind posters with no written clues.

[Daniel Horowitz]

The recreation of the general store was a great addition to the museum. It was an opportunity to travel backwards in time and see what goods, herbs and spices were sought out by residents here. I was aware that the original Chinatown was raised to create Union Station, but I was unaware that this building still stands as a museum. Seeing other people's posts, it seems like this museum was a discovery for many participants. I am glad that the museum exists, preserving this part of LA history.

[Daniel Horowitz]

I can actually say "I'm third from the right in the back row".

Hi Akunna- I also attended the week long seminar earlier this summer, so this visit was a revisit for both of us. I learned so much about Korean culture during the week I was there. I am including a picture of a Korean wedding I participated in (I'm pretty sure they weren't really married) dressed as the chief of police. The costumes were all so colorful. The entire week was an amazing experience.

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[Daniel Horowitz]

The presence of the California grizzly bear on the state flag gives us a teachable lesson, since the subspecies is no longer in existance. We have removed other top predators from ecosystems, such as the gray wolf, because we found their presence threatening. Sure dragons can be seen as an obvious or lazy symbol for China, and as much as there are no grizzlies in California there are no dragons in China, but it is imediately recognizable as much as a bald eagle represents the United States. Bears were often used in political cartoons to represent the Soviet Union by the way. Interesting that the California quail is the state bird- although it is a distinct and visually pleasing bird it would seem odd to use it as a symbol for California in a cartoon or magazine cover.

[Daniel Horowitz]

Zoey I agree with your description of government influence. I think what set off the discussion in class is the strong word "power", where a "softer" word like "influence" might be more appropriate. Popular film often falls into traditional models of heroes and villains, and that's not just with superhero films. Often American films fall into stereotype when the villanous character is cast as a certain ethnicity, feeding an us versus them mentality. From the clips we saw of Wolf Warrior we see that other cultures are perfectly capable of doing this as well.

[Daniel Horowitz]

I enjoyed how Professor Brown shed light on what at the time was consumable, "throw-away" culture. The postcards gave us a glimpse of a time that was different from some of the propaganda posters we viewed. Also it's interesting to look at cigarette boxes as a reflection of culture. I wonder if there is an American equivalent.

[Daniel Horowitz]

Now I know the Japanese word for "period drama", thanks to it's association with Star Wars (Jedi). I have seen Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress", the movie that the original Star Wars was inspired from. The Magnificent Seven is another American film based on a Kurosawa movie, in this case it's a Western based on Seven Samurai.

[Daniel Horowitz]

I also was fascinated with discovering the existance of live "actors" explaining the film. The equivalent in the US would be the piano players who added a live musical soundtrack to each film. With the cultural crossover of American films I can see why it was necessary for someone to explain what was going on. I am curious as to what was added to the movies, elements of creativity must have creeped in, perhaps even changing the plot to the Benshi's imagination.

[Daniel Horowitz]

So the boy is serving the nation by killing the "pest" that is eating the seeds of the people, and the girl is serving the cause by collecting the dead birds and tying them together. Are the dead birds an artistic convention so we can see the target of the boy's slingshot, or is the girl retrieving the bodies for proper burial, or is there some other functional (perhaps culinary) use for the dead birds? The heavy use of DDT on crops in the US during the post-WWII period affected bird populations as well. The 1950s was not a good time for birds. Sadly the sheer mismanagement of both the economy and environment in China led to millions of human deaths as well.

[Daniel Horowitz]

The background pictures are more cartoonish in approach. I see a mother and her daughter engaged in exercise and statue appreciation. There are people in folk costume depicted- perhaps a reference to the many ethnicities living in China. There is some reference to science and manufacturing. The forground figure, far more realisticlly depicted (the artist may have worked from photographs), shows a woman holding uo her propaganda book while holding a medicinal bottle in her other hand. My first guess is that she has vitamins or herbs, but others have suggested this may be birth control.

[Daniel Horowitz]

I'm glad you mentioned that males played female roles in Shakespearean theatre as well. We associate this type of performance in our contemporary society with drag queens as well as comedic Hollywood roles such as Ms Doubtfire and Tootsie. There is a history of impersonation in Vaudeville, and European classical traditions had a history of castrating young boys to maintain their feminine voice and play female roles. It's also interesting that in a time before contraception, society and/or government had no issue with homosexual prostetution in the theatre but cracked down on female actors engaging in this.

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