Topic: Essay
Description:
Task: Compare two films from different countries with relation to a specified topic.
Answer one of the following questions.
1. One function of several Asian national cinemas is to deal with processes of self-definition and national pride in an economically and culturally globalising world. What filmic strategies enable such self-definition?
2. Contemporary films from Asia often have a strong focus on female characters, but are they films about women or about the men who still strive to dominate the lives of women?
3. In what ways do national cinema practices in Asia challenge the commonly held wisdom that most of its visual and narrative forms derive primarily from Western sources?
4. “Localism in Asian film products is grounded on Asian subjects and conventions and a confidence that local audiences will respond to films in their own cultural idiom.” In a discussion of two films from different countries, show what you see to be their major local features.
Specifications:
• Your essay should be 2000 words
• Be presented in 12-pt font, 1.5-spaced, 2cm margins;
• Use an approved referencing style, e.g. MLA, Chicago, Harvard, APA;
• Be fully referenced with at least five relevant academic references (books, book chapters or journal articles) (You can locate scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles by using the library databases such as Project Muse or Academic Advanced Premier. You can find these by using the Library’s Multi Search: >Databases>Project Muse, e.g. You can also put a key word into Multi Search under books and articles, but you need to be precise in your choice of term, or you’ll get hundreds of irrelevant references);
• List “Works Cited” at the end of your essay. This should not be a general bibliography or references, but contain all and only works cited within the essay; and
• Avoid the use of subheadings (a coherent argument should link components of a short essay such as this).
Movie list:
Japan
Focus film: Departures (Okuribito) (2008) (Yojiro Takita)
Supplementary film: Sword of Desperation (2010) (Hideyuki Hirayama)
Hong Kong
Focus film: Election (2005) (Johnnie To)
Supplementary film: A Simple Life (2011) (Ann Hui)
China
Focus film:
Supplementary film: Black Coal, Thin Ice (????; “Daylight Fireworks”) ( 2014) (Diao Yinan)
Taiwan
Focus film: Cape No. 7 (2008) (Wei Te-Sheng)
Supplementary film: Night Market Hero (2011) (Ye Tian Lun)
Korea
Focus film:
Supplementary film: Old Garden (2006) (Sang-Soo Lim)
Iran
Focus film: A Separation (2011) (Asghar Farhadi)
Supplementary film: The Patience Stone (Afghanistan, 2012) (Atiq Rahimi)
India
Focus film: Chak De! India [Go India!] (2007) (Shimit Amin)
Supplementary film: The Paper Wife (2011) (Bappaditya Bandopadhyay)
Thailand
Focus film: Wonderful Town (2007) (Aditya Assarat)
Supplementary film: Headshot (2011) (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
Vietnam
Focus film: Floating Lives (2010) (Phan Quang Binh Nguyen)
Supplementary film: Blood Letter [Thiên M?nh Anh Hùng] (2012) (Victor Vu)
The Philippines
Focus film: The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (2005) (Auraeus Solito)
Supplementary film: Mondomanila (2012) (Khavn De La Cruz)
Mongolia
Focus film: The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003) (Byambasuren Davaa)
Supplementary film: A Pearl in the Forest (2008) (Enkhtaivan Agvaantseren)