4/14 - Ye - Using Film to Teach About China

I actually use the movie Hero in my 7th grade world history class. (there is one sex scene that I have to fast forward through) One of the China unit's discussion topics is the separation and reunification of China. Hero illustrates the conflict between states, addresses common language which can also give way to discussing common law. Students can also identify and recognize different Chinese natural features as well as get a better understanding of China's diverse climates/ geography.

I'd have to agree w/the first post response above....I did not find much value in a better way to incorporate film in my lessons. The clips presented were way too long (and I'm not quite sure how they would correlate to the standards-grade 7) and at times, confusing. I was hoping to see media in regards to China's culture, religion, etc.
*even with editing, with the complex and depth storylines we viewed, I am discouraged if those films would be worth the hassle...

I can possibly see ways you could use the clips last evening for English, but in a historical sense, it was hard for me to comprehend the various themes last night...[Edit by="mlee on Apr 15, 10:00:06 PM"][/Edit]

Regarding the movie entitled, "Hero," I probably would not show the entire film.
Instead, I would write a summary of the movie, (e.g., what characters, conflicts, geography, code of honor) with specific scenes to look for. After that, I would compile a list of questions that students had to
read and then answer as I showed them 15 to 20 minute clips from the movie.

When I used this approach for a few other historical films, students recalled more of the
movie and the purpose for watching it.

I enjoyed Dr. Ye's presentation as well. The films he chose were too long and often included some questionable content, but often those sections of the film can be avoided. I agree that some of these may be a bit confusing in a middle school setting, but in a high school they may work with some set-up beforehand. I teach English, so it is really a stretch to include some of these films in my curriculum. I might use some of them as warm-up's for students to respond to, just to get them writing. In the best case scenario, I would be able to tie a theme or concept from the snippet to something we are currently studying in the class (maybe Chinese poetry?). Oh yeah, Ang Lee has a new movie coming out in the summer, Taking Woodstock,with Demetri Martin. It isn't a comedy per se, but it is supposed to have some humor in it. I must admit that Mr. Lee uses such strong sexual themes in his films, that they are difficult to include in most classes.

I enjoyed Prof. Ye's presentation quite a bit. The background information was very helpful. I do agree with the others about showing clips in the classroom, and I also agree with using Hero as one of them. As an art teacher, I am limited in some ways, the representation of Calligraphy and it's importance helps. On a personal note, I actually went and rented Hero and I look forward to watching the entire movie. I look forward to seeing more films on my own to see if I can apply any of the cinematography or content applies to an art class.

I definitely agree with previous posts that many of the movies we viewed clips of would be inappapropriate to show in their entirity, even to high school students.

One idea I did have, though, was for my AP Literature class. We are currently reading and discussing a dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood called The Handmaid's Tale The role of government in the private lives of the people is an important theme in the novel, as are notions of gender and sexuality. While watching the clip of Farewell My Concubine, I saw numerous parallels that would be interesting to discuss with my AP class. The wife's past history as a prostitute and the sexual orientation/crossdressing of the main character would be great for writing prompts and discussions.

Professsor Ye chose great movies to show us scenes from, but the part of me that loves stories really didn't like watching only the ends of films!

"Farewell my Cuncumbine" I thought had a lot of potential if just section of the Cultural Revolution were shown--some of what we saw. Like others I would not try to show the whole of any particular movie, or teach the Russian Formalist vocabulary and concepts in any holistic sense. If a section of one of these movies was shown and one concept or 2 were concentrated on. I might play the Cultural Revolution scene with no audio and have students use a graphic organizer to tally and elaborate on angle of vision, pov, scene description, character...

I would love to get my hands on "Shadow Magic"--the documentary of Chinese cinema, and use sections of that to bring a critical component or element of tradition in cinematic vision/media. I used subtitled anime to great acceptance.

The Cultural Revolution would make a good pairing with any science fiction--The Handmaiden's Tale, The Giver, or Animal Farmetc...