ARTH484

Cross-listed with: CINE426. Credit only granted for: ARTH484, CINE426 or FILM426. Formerly: FILM426. Modern Chinese culture, society, and history studied through examples of art, film, and visual culture. Cinema is arguably the most influential global art form of the twentieth century. Within a year of its invention in the West, in 1896, it reached China, and since then has become an indispensable part of the social, political, and cultural life of the Chinese people. In this course, we will explore modern Chinese film and visual culture to examine topics such as modernity; tradition versus modernization; cultural nationalism; and Chinese responses to Western visual culture. We will examine works representative of Chinese film in both their local, Chinese context and that of worldwide cinema. We will consider how modern Chinese films and visual culture have been shaped by traditional Chinese aesthetic sensibilities and art forms as well as by foreign influences.