Message from aortiz

[Anonymous]

there are several films that I highly recommend.

Shower- this is an excellent film where one can compare and contrast "new Beijing" and "old Beijing." Aside from the great acting one sees society changing in very new ways. In the old days people lives in Hutongs that had been turned into communes. People used public toilets and public showers, now however all that has changed. Now people live in apartments and people no longer "know" each other.
The elderly are trying to come to grips with this fact, since places where they socialized are being torn down. the young folks see modernization as something important for their society. Like the old saying, "get rid of the old to bring in the new."
The film can be used to show that china is not static, and that it is changing fast, but with change also comes loss. One can talk about how drastic change can people's like. For example a kid growing up in the city suddenly moving to the country side of Mexico. BUt not taking it as a societal shift.
the film is not about politics or whatever it is about peoples lives.

The Big Potato- this is a really cool film that i saw while in china. It talks about how regular city people live. Not those that have money or the dirt poor people, just common people who work in a factory. the funny thing though is that it is somewhat about politics and the democratization of china. If you pay close attention the main character is a really good guy, although he might be clumsy and mess up often. In the film his position is that of manage, and he utilises that position to lord it over people. However as the film progresses it revealed that he is a good guy. To make things nice and short. At the end all the workers exercise democracy and elect him to head manager.

To Live- this film ranks in my top ten list of all time. This film can be used to show the change that china underwent from the 50s all the way to the 80s. The film puts a human face to the suffering and senseless chaos. It is good to show clips to students in conjunction to topics about Mao's china, but also how people have a will to survive.

Beijing Bicycle- this is a good film because it shows the life of peasant workers in the city and the life of city people. A bicycle is used to show the different levels of society that are mixed in all the chaos of the city. There is a joke in Beijing, "if your bike has not been stolen more than 6 times then you are not a Beijinger." (or something along those lines)