Filmic Adaptation: To Live

 
Project description

please read Yu Hua, To Live; Zhang Yimou, To Live (1994)<br />
Recommend: (1) Wendy Larson, “Displacing the Political: Zhang Yimou’s To Live and the Field of Film,” The Literary Field of Twentieth-Century China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999, pp. 178-97.<br />
(2) Rey Chow, “We Endure, Therefore We Are: Survival, Governance, and Zhang Yimou’s To Live,” South Atlantic Quarterly95, 4 (Fall 1996): 1039-64.<br />
<br />
and then watch the movie. final write the essay as the following instruction( please talk about the adoption process)<br />
<br />
Both of the mid-term and final papers should be devoted to analyzing an adaptation case we have covered this semester. You can refer to the presentation guideline to find an appropriate topic for your paper. Extra research is not required, since the main point of your paper is to present a clear, compelling argument about adaptation. I want you to develop a claim or argument about something you think is important. You will be expected to find evidence from the readings or outside sources to support your contentions. <br />
ARGUMENTATION<br />
Your paper should:<br />
• contain a clearly formulated thesis statement in the first paragraph. The thesis statement should lay out what you are arguing in the paper and how you plan to make your case. Like a road map, I/the reader should have a general idea from only one paragraph about what you are writing about and how you plan to develop your ideas.<br />
• move in a logical progression from paragraph to paragraph. Each part should contribute a little more to your overall point.<br />
•&νβσπ;pay special attention to technical details of the story and the film, including narrative structure, camera movement, character development, editing, and sound, etc., to demonstrate your ability to compare literature and film.<br />
• have an interesting conclusion, in which you consider what the ultimate significance of your topic might be. Don’t just summarize your argument so far, but rather think about how your topic is interesting or relevant for the study of Chinese literature and culture. Feel free to speculate a little if you don’t have a lot of familiarity with Chinese history.<br />
You do not have to summarize the plot of the story or the film unless it is important to your argument. We have both read the story and watched the films before, so feel free to move straight into your analysis/argument.<br />
CONVENTIONS<br />
Your paper should<br />
• be double-spaced<br />
• use 12 point font<br />
• use standard 1 inch margins<br />
• be numbered (except for the first page)<br />
• cite all sources used<br />
•&νβσπ;Quotations over 5 lines should be single spaced and indented (block quotes).