1. Essay questions:
You must choose one of the following essay questions, and use it as a prompt to develop a more focused research project:
1. How important is the role of the state in Chinese filmmaking today?
2. How did China’s OR Taiwan’s OR Hong Kong’s directors interpret history? Use more than one example to illustrate your point.
3. What was it about the films of China’s Sixth Generation director that led to so much of their work being viewed as controversial?
4. Has China been successful in screening its soft power? Use examples to support your argument.
5. How important has Hollywood been in influencing Chinese filmmaking since the 1980s?
6. How did China’s OR Taiwan’s OR Hong Kong’s directors interpret a specific social issue? Use more than one example to illustrate your point.
7. How have notions of ‘Chinese-ness’ OR ‘Hong Kongese-ness’ OR ‘Taiwanese-ness’ been represented in film during specific periods?
8. Examine a recurring aesthetic trope in three or more films and argue as to its meaning.
9. Examine a recurring theme in Chinese documentaries and how it has changed over time and argue as to its meaning.
All essay topics have been deliberately set so that you cannot answer them simply by coming to lectures. Instead, it will be up to you to conduct research independently on your chosen question and to answer the question.
You will be marked on the following criteria:
1.Your ability to engage with the essay question and argue your
thesis.
2.Your ability to undertake independent research on your chosen question, based on materials and debates we encounter in the lectures and seminars but going well beyond basic seminar readings
3.Your ability to construct a feasible and original argument in answering the question
4.Proper referencing
5.Your written presentation skills.