Chinese 157 Contemporary Chinese Literature
Topic:
Hello, this is Lian. I need you to write about Zhang Ga the Soldier Boy (小兵张嘎), 1963 film, Zhang Ga was a naughty boy who wanted to join the Eighth Route Army, and he tried to fight Japanese invaders in his own way.
Please watch the film and follow the instructions about how to do a close-reading of this movie. I appreciate your effort. Please let me know if you have any other questions: This is my gmail: [email protected]
Guidelines for Close-Reading Response Papers
What to Do:
Write a four-page paper that looks closely at one of the texts we’ve read or the films we have viewed and develop an argument about what it means by carefully observing how it is made.
How to Close-Read:
Close-reading is the art of paying attention and listening intently to what a work of art has to say. It begins from noticing a significant detail or an important formal pattern, asking why it is there and how it shapes our reading experience, and then asking how these details shape the
meaning of the text as a whole.
Don’t read only for the plot. Don’t take anything for granted. Read slowly. And then read again. Plot summary is often the least interesting aspect of any story or film. It’s quickly dispensed with — just a “spoiler.” What really holds our attention is the artistry with which a story is conveyed. That’s why we can read the best novels or watch great movies over and over again with ever- increasing pleasure, even if we already know the plot. Books and movies and songs and paintings speak to us so powerfully because of the formal choices they make.
Close-reading is our best tool for understanding those choices and bringing a text to fuller life and even more poignant presence in our lives. Those choices are even more meaningful when we understand the particular artistic forms and technologies writers or directors are working with, as well as the life-worlds, historical contexts, political situations, and cultural meanings from which their works emerged.
Where to Start:
Start small. Some of the best close readings begin from a question or a puzzling problem or some kind of anomaly that you encounter and make note of as you read. In other words, that “wait…what?” moment may be the best place to begin.
How to Write Well:
Write about something that interests you! Boredom or a lack of conviction always shows, and it makes for boring writing and unconvincing arguments. Choose a passage or a scene or a detail or a question that intrigued or puzzled or startled or moved you, something that you want to think more about, argue for or against, something we didn’t have time to discuss in class, or that you want to be able to appreciate in a deeper way. Write as if writing itself matters. It does! Clear ideas only emerge into the world through language. And someone is reading. Keep your reader in mind.
Be precise and concrete and accurate, especially when you are describing the text itself. If you are writing about literature, be clear about genres: a short story is not an “article” and a quotation is not a novel or a poem or an essay, and those distinctions matter. If you are writing about a movie, please refer to the Yale Film Analysis tutorial for the film terms you’ll need to describe what you see happening on screen.
Try not to use vague or abstract words (like “feudalism” to refer to China’s past) if you don’t really understand them. Abstractions often obscure more than they reveal — does “feudalism” really tell you anything interesting about the complex realities of premodern China except that it was “bad”? Don’t talk about “literary techniques” in general; point out instead a specific rhetorical usage, trope, or type of syntax that you actually see in the text.
You are free to write in any style or genre you like, as long as you write clearly, and the style you choose is appropriate to your topic and relevant in some way to the class. You don’t have to write yet another formulaic high-school style essay in five paragraphs; and you don’t have to write in deadening academic prose.
Finally, Some Practical Advice In Lieu of a Rubric:
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— Papers should be four pages or so, typed, double-spaced, and written in standard English. We will grade down when the clarity of your writing is impeded by grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and/or sloppy punctuation. (You may cite the original texts in Chinese when necessary.)
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— Close-readings must have a compelling, and cohesive idea that is introduced early on in the paper. I do not want to read extended plot summary or statements, generalizations, or opinions that are not supported by examples from the texts you are discussing.
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— Focus primarily on the analysis of language and literary structure (how texts make meaning), or cinematic craft. A good paper will state its argument and then go on to discuss how that argument was derived from an analysis of the specific choices the author or director has made. At the same time, the paper should not lose sight of how the text relates to the larger literary, cultural, and historical issues surrounding it.
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— Be creative, be specific, and don’t try to do too much. A tightly focused piece of writing based on one or two original observations and/or telling textual details is far more interesting than a vague, overly general, and insufficiently substantiated argument.
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— Proofread before you turn your paper in. Take the time to read your writing aloud to yourself. Does it make sense to you when you do? If not, make changes so that you are sure your meaning is clear. Are there spelling errors or grammatical mistakes? Fix them. Does the language flow well, or does it seem stilted and unnatural when you say it aloud? Change it until you are comfortable with the flow. Are there unnecessary words? Cut them. If you spend half an hour or so on this last step, you are guaranteed to have a better paper.
On Citation, Academic (Dis)honesty, and an Obligatory Caution regarding AI tools:
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— You may, but are not required nor expected to, draw on our secondary readings for information and analysis. You must, however, be very careful to CITE all secondary sources (including sources in Chinese and/or sources drawn from the Internet). You must cite if you employ a direct quotation from another text, and you must cite if you borrow an idea or an interpretation from someone else, even if you change or paraphrase the language in which the idea is conveyed.
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— Don’t use ChatGPT or other AI tools. Lacking consciousness, conscience, judgement, or sense of context, it frequently gets the facts wildly wrong. It writes in a dull and formulaic way. Using it is a form of cheating. Worse still, you will be cheating yourself of an opportunity to become a better writer and reader.
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— Failure to cite a work from which you have borrowed language or analysis is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense, could result in a failing grade, and will be reported to the Center for Student Conduct. If you have any questions about what does or does not constitute plagiarism, please do not hesitate to ask before you turn in your paper.