A little bit of film, a little bit of art
Alright, since I’ve been a bit sluggish on updating this blog, I thought I’d dive right into doing a little more research on the topics I posted … so far these two links have been helpful:
On wuxia film: http://www.wu-jing.org/News/M03/2003-01-…
On Chinese Socialist Realist art: http://chineseculture.about.com/od/artin…
It’s the latter link that interested me most, though. Through it and other sites I’ve been browsing, I’ve been learning about the influence the Soviet Union had on the early years of the PRC, a fact which Benson makes mention of in her book – the Chinese drew on the Soviets as a model, even into the cultural arena of artwork. When the Soviets and Chinese split in the late 1950s, the style of artwork was affected as well, assuming more traditional Chinese qualities. It would be interesting to trace the development of the style, limited to the 50s, which seems to be the strongest era of Soviet influence – or I may look at how the style changed pre-Soviet influence to after the split.
The New Woodcut movement was influential in developing the image of the new PRC, as well, and it might be helpful to include it in my research. Much of the woodcuts depicted Chinese peasantry, which was apparently a point of contention between the Soviets and the Chinese – the former disagreed with Mao’s dependence on the peasantry as revolutionary forces. I could include this in my research, if I continue examining how the Chinese artwork reflected and rebelled against Sino-Soviet relations.
Also, if anyone is looking for just a general site on artwork during the Maoist period, this might be interesting: http://www.asiasociety.org/chinarevo/
Uncategorized, h471prc09 | Comment (0)Possible paper topics!
Here are the two topics which I’ve been drawn to the most:
1. The rise of the wuxia genre in Chinese film since the 1980s and its popularity in both the East and West.
I’ll admit, I’m a fan of Hero and House of Flying Daggers (not so much Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, to be honest) – I’m curious as to how this genre developed in Chinese film and how it’s come to appeal to Western audiences – and how is it regarded by the West versus the East?
2. The role of socialist realism in Chinese artwork during the early years of the People’s Republic of China.
One of my other great loves, outside of history, is art – particularly artwork with an obvious agenda. I’d love to examine how the CCP utilized artwork to promote their own policies or ideals – what did the subject matter and how it was depicted say about the Chinese government during the early 1950s and its policies?
Uncategorized, h471prc09 | Comment (0)A little introduction
Hey all,
My name is Kerry – I was born in New England, raised in Virginia, so a bit of a regional hybrid. I transferred to Mary Washington in 2007, fresh out of community college with delusions of studying English literature – within the first couple weeks of classes, though, I ended up declaring myself as a history major. I started my college career longing to be a librarian, then switched to a museum curator, and have settled (for now) on an archivist. This is my last semester at Mary Washington, if all goes according to plan, and in the fall I hope to start graduate school in pursuit of a Master’s in Library Science.
My real passion is English history of any flavor, particularly the Victorian and Edwardian eras. I realize, though, that the States doesn’t offer much in the way of archiving in English history, so I’ve been developing a more practical interest in World War II and the history of the CIA with the hopes of securing a government job in the future.
I know basically nothing about Chinese history but that isn’t to say I don’t have an interest – I’d love to see China as more than “that place with the rice and kung-fu movies.” I’ve never done much in cultural history but certain aspects – e.g., film, art, museums – definitely appeal to me.
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