Sample Paper
One of the most famous movies ever produced in China was Farewell my Concubine. The story begins in the 1920s, and continues through to the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. The early part of the film focuses on the training and adolescent relationships of two young men who are destined to perform in the famed Peking Opera. Due to the arduous and complex nature of their training, the story begins when one of them (nicknamed Douzi) (played as an adult by Hong Kong singer Leslie Cheung) is deposited at the school by his mother when he is quite a young boy. He becomes friends with a lad called Shitou (Zhang Fengyi as an adult), and their friendship goes through a variety of ups and downs occasioned by the fact that Douzi is homosexual, and Shitou is married. They do not ever appear to have had a sexual romance, but Douzi certainly resents his reduced access to his friend after he marries. Ironically, given the cooperative nature of this film's production, it was banned in Taiwan because too many of its stars were mainland Chinese. Click below to read a sample response to the movie.
An unsung classic made in Shanghai as the KMT prepared to flee to Taiwan and the communist army approached the city - events which the film daringly uses as cornerstones of its narrative. The downtrodden tenants in a Shanghai boarding house (a teacher, a pedlar and a newspaper sub-editor, the latter the real owner of the building) face eviction when their 'landlord', the KMT official who seized the premises, announces that he is selling up and moving to Taiwan. Amid rising crime and social panic, the 'little people' realise that they can stand up to tyranny by banding together. Thanks to terrific ensemble work from the cast and a talented director who keeps his foot off the 'melodrama' pedal, this is very different from the propaganda vehicles which all concerned found themselves making a few years later.
Click below to read a sample response to the movie.
Click below to read a sample of gender impersonation: Hollywood vs China. The paper will explore the comparison of Farewell my Concubine and Divergent and how both the main characters explore gender impersonation.
Click below for a sample of my research paper written in Chinese about the relationships of couples where either the male or female is older than their counter part. The paper and presentation explores the positive and negative benefits of having a partner that is significantly older than the other. Read more to learn about the topic.
