To finish Laborer's Love, please watch it HERE [expires by Nov 10th]
Week 6★Nov 9th Screening: The Goddess「神女」，Dir. Wu Yonggang/吳永剛, 1934, 76 min [silent movie with new score]
Films for Reference:
New Woman/新女性[online version], Dir. Cai Chusheng/蔡楚生, 1935, 106min
[so sorry we have NO english subtitle for this]
Center Stage/阮玲玉, Dir. Stanley Kwan/關錦鵬, 1991 [Eng sub]
biopic of Ruan Lingyu.In the 1930s, in China, there was a woman film-actress who was tagged as "the Chinese Garbo." She was a wildly popular performer who made her first film at age 16 and died by her own hand at age 25. Ironically, she was famous for playing tragic heroines, and her own life mirrored the kinds of situations she portrayed onscreen. In this biopic, Ruan Ling-yu (Maggie Cheung) is riding high in her career when the press decides to take her down a notch or two, bitterly criticizing her for an affair with a married man. This situation is unbearable for her, and she kills herself, but not before uttering the words "Gossip is a terrible thing." In addition to the central drama, scenes from actual films starring the actress are included, and the actors in this biopic occasionally step out of character to address the camera, recounting some significant fact about the individuals whose lives they are playing, and the nature of those times in China.
Center Stage/阮玲玉, Dir. Stanley Kwan/關錦鵬, 1991 [Eng sub]
biopic of Ruan Lingyu.In the 1930s, in China, there was a woman film-actress who was tagged as "the Chinese Garbo." She was a wildly popular performer who made her first film at age 16 and died by her own hand at age 25. Ironically, she was famous for playing tragic heroines, and her own life mirrored the kinds of situations she portrayed onscreen. In this biopic, Ruan Ling-yu (Maggie Cheung) is riding high in her career when the press decides to take her down a notch or two, bitterly criticizing her for an affair with a married man. This situation is unbearable for her, and she kills herself, but not before uttering the words "Gossip is a terrible thing." In addition to the central drama, scenes from actual films starring the actress are included, and the actors in this biopic occasionally step out of character to address the camera, recounting some significant fact about the individuals whose lives they are playing, and the nature of those times in China.
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Week 7★Nov 16th Lecture & Discussion
Required Readings
Harris, Kristine. “The Goddess: Fallen Woman of Shanghai,” in Chris Berry,
ed. Chinese Films in Focus II [click HERE]
Rayns, Tony. “The Second Generation”, Electric Shadows: A Century of Chinese
Cinema, eds. James Bell, BFI, 2014, p16-27 [click HERE]
for Year 4 and above students:
Hansen, Miriam Bratu. “Fallen Women, Rising Stars, New Horizons: Shanghai Silent Film as Vernacular Modernism,” Film Quarterly 54:1 (2000): 10-22. [click HERE]
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