Chinese Studies and Film

This module comprises of both oral and aural skills, to be taken alongside the corresponding Written Language module. It builds upon skills gained in the first year. Students who have taken the Intensive language course in their first year normally follow this course throughout the second year.

The module aims to enhance students’ linguistic proficiency in spoken Chinese in a range of formal and informal settings (both spontaneous and prepared). Specific attention will be given to developing good, accurate pronunciation and intonations as well as fluency, accuracy of grammar, and vocabulary when speaking the language.

This module also aims at broadening students’ knowledge about different aspects of modern Chinese-speaking societies, politics and culture, and contemporary issues and institutions.

By the end of this module, we hope you will have enhanced your comprehension of the spoken language, as used in both formal speech, and in everyday life situations including those that they may encounter in Chinese-speaking countries.

This module comprises of both oral and aural skills, to be taken alongside the corresponding Written Language module. It builds upon skills gained in the first year of the Intensive course. Students who have taken the Intensive language course in their first year, normally follow this course throughout the second year.

The module aims to enhance students’ linguistic proficiency in spoken Chinese in a range of formal and informal settings (both spontaneous and prepared). Specific attention will be given to developing good, accurate pronunciation and intonations well as fluency, accuracy of grammar, and vocabulary when speaking the language.

This module also aims at broadening students’ knowledge about different aspects of modern society, politics and culture, and contemporary issues and institutions in order to prepare them for residence abroad in their 3rd year.

By the end of this module, students will have had the opportunity to enhance their comprehension of the spoken language, as used in both formal speech, and in everyday life situations including those that they may encounter in Chinese-speaking countries.

This module comprises of reading and writing skills to be taken alongside the Oral Skills module.

This module aims to consolidate skills gained by students in the first year of study, and enable them to build a level of competence and confidence required to familiarise themselves with the culture and society of countries where their studied language is spoken.

The module aims to enhance your proficiency in understanding written Chinese, as well as in the writing of Chinese (notes, reports, summaries, essays, projects, etc.) including translation from and into Chinese; and the systematic study of Chinese lexis, grammar and syntax.

The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency, with particular emphasis on reading a variety of sources and on writing fluently and accurately in the language, in a variety of registers.

This module comprises of reading and writing skills to be taken alongside the Oral Skills module.

This module aims to consolidate skills you have developed in the first year of study, and enable you to build a level of competence and confidence required to familiarise yourselves with the culture and society of countries where your studied language is spoken.

The module aims to enhance your proficiency in understanding spoken Chinese, as well as in the writing of Chinese (notes, reports, summaries, essays, projects, etc.) including translation from and into Chinese; and the systematic study of Chinese lexis, grammar and syntax.

The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency, with particular emphasis on reading a variety of sources and on writing fluently and accurately in the language, in a variety of registers.

This core module has two main objectives. Firstly, it is designed to develop further your analytical skills in order to examine individual films in greater detail. Secondly, it is intended to encourage you to understand world cinema in relation to a variety of social, cultural, political and industrial contexts. The module will explore such issues as the relationship between film form and modes of production (from industrial film-making through to low-budget art film), theories of film style and aesthetics, and the political function of cinema. In the first term, we focus wholly on various modes of American film production, and in the second term we explore some broader theoretical questions through an analysis of films from a number of different national traditions. Across the whole module, you will gain a thorough grasp not only of the historical factors shaping various national and international cinemas, but also of some key critical and theoretical concepts within the field of film studies.

This module is a non-credit bearing module. If you are a major student going abroad in your second or third year you are enrolled on it during the year prior to your departure, and timetabled to attend the events. These include: introduction to the International Placement Year and choice of activities; British Council English Language Assistantships and how to apply; introduction to partner universities and how they function; working in companies abroad; finance during the International Placement Year; research skills and questionnaire design; teaching abroad; curriculum writing and employability skills; and welfare and wellbeing.

This modules focuses on the ‘must-know’ historical moments, political events and aesthetic movements that shaped Chinese and Sinophone cultures in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

You will hone your skills in cultural analysis via diverse media as we explored four topics:

• Revolutions and Reforms
• Dreams and Futures
• Walls and Spaces
• Identities and Relationships

During the module, you'll consider themes such as power, resistance, trauma, aspirations, wellbeing, urbanisation, the urban/rural divide, migration, individualisation, collectivisation, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, and family. Texts, films and art will be studied in historical and cultural contexts, with due regard to relevant global trends such as imperialism, colonialism, postcolonialism, democracy, neoliberalism and nationalism.

During your journey through moments and movements across two centuries of Chinese cultural history, you'll encounter some of the most radical thinkers, writers, filmmakers and creative artists that make the Chinese-language intellectual tradition so distinctive and fascinating. You'll discover a stimulating range of cultural forms and learn how to reflect critically on them as expressions of multi-faceted, nuanced societies.

Critical Reflections explores a number of key interdisciplinary philosophical and cultural concepts which will enable you to analyse, engage with, and reflect upon artworks in your own discipline. It also allows you to establish a common set of concepts which can be shared by students from all LICA subjects. The structure of the module consists of six three-week blocks: (1) Aesthetics, Formalism and Beyond, (2) Phenomenology, (3) Semiotics, Structuralism and Deconstruction, (4) Class and Society, (5) Feminism, Queer Theory and Gender, and (6) On Difference.Weekly plenary lectures make connections across the arts, and are supplemented by weekly, two hour seminars/workshops which allow students to work in their subject groups (art, film, theatre, design) on ideas and examples specifically tailored towards these disciplines

Documentary Film Practice is a practice-based module. You’ll work in small groups to make a short documentary film. In order to take this module you must have taken Documentary Cultures in your first year. The module builds on knowledge acquired.

By undertaking a practical project in Documentary Film Practice, students are expected to apply theoretical knowledge gained in the Documentary Cultures module to a practical project. As well as applying theory to practice, the module aims to enhance your filmmaking skills, with training provided for camera operation, sound recording and editing skills. You will also have the opportunity to develop skills in group work.

This module explores different approaches to both the analysis and the production of documentary film. As well as considering a range of styles of documentary film, typically including expository, poetic, observational, reflexive, political, and personal modes of documentary film, you will also examine key debates concerning the ethics of documentary filmmaking. An indicative list of film screenings includes Nanook of the North, Grey Gardens, Dont Look Back [sic], The Arbor, Sans Soleil, Fahrenheit 9/11, The Gleaners and I, and The Act of Killing.

The module aims to develop an understanding of historically important European films from the 1950s to the 1980s and the stylistic and historical significance of these films. It will explore the thematic importance of these films and consider the critical debates relating to this period of filmmaking enabling students to develop a critical understanding of the conditions of production, reception and distribution of these films.

This module examines a historical genre that now occupies the economic centre of Hollywood film production. The module focuses centrally on film and comic book aesthetics; on questions of narration and visual depiction in these two related media; on the shifting norms of this film genre in relation to technological change across history; and on the significance and uses of the comic-book film in society. The module develops ideas and skills introduced in the core Film Studies modules taken as part of the film studies and combined degrees.

This module seeks to support you to apply your linguistic and cultural understanding in a specific professional context. This module gives you the opportunity to spend time on a work-based placement in the UK or abroad. You will be given the opportunity to develop, reflect on and articulate both the range of competences and the linguistic and cross-cultural skills that enhance employability by working in language-related professional contexts and reflecting on key issues in relation to their placement organisation. There is the opportunity to join a local work placement developed by the department, or for you to source your own placements (subject to departmental approval). Workshops before and during the placement will provide preparation and guidance on sourcing, confirming and then reflecting on academic work. Students will share their experiences and learning with each other by means of end-of-module presentations.

How do films deal with topics such as immigration, environment, the posthuman and gender? Do they entertain viewers, instruct them, or both?

This module explores European, Latin American, and Chinese films in their social and historical contexts; the topics mentioned are the focus of key lectures and seminars. The module begins with introductory lectures on cinema and society and on film aesthetics and content. The main aim is to make connections between the films and such contexts not only on the level of narrative, characterisation and dialogue, but also on that of form and technique.

This module aims to give you a background to and insight into the diversity of twentieth and twenty-first century thought and contemporary definitions of culture.

Some key questions explored on the module include: What is 'culture' and how does it work? How do 'art' and 'culture' relate to each other? What do we mean when we talk about the production and consumption of culture? Why does popular culture arouse conflicting responses? What role does the body play in our understanding of culture? How does culture define who we are? Can a work of culture be an act of resistance?

With these questions in mind, this module focuses on texts which raise questions about class, race, gender, and subcultures.

This module will explore the work of some of the most historically important female film-makers from the 1890s through to the present, considering films from around the globe. The module will examine the significant but often marginalized and obscured roles that women have played in industrial, experimental and avant-garde film production across a spectrum of roles from costume and production designers through to screen-writers, editors and directors. You will be invited to reflect upon the fact that, despite playing key roles in the development of the medium, women continue to be excluded at all levels of film production. The decision by Hollywood star and activist Geena Davis to establish a campaigning ‘Institute on Gender in Media’ is a measure of the urgency of this subject.

The module will engage with revisionist film histories concerned with interrogating the dominant bias of academic and popular histories of the medium; it will also draw on feminist film theory concerned both with a critical understanding of mainstream cinema and the development of politicized women’s cinemas. The module will examine a series of female directors and their work, and each week will be oriented around the screening of a case study film that will be the focus for the seminar. An example of directors included is Alice Guy-Blaché, Dorothy Arzner, Leni Riefenstahl, Ida Lupino, Laura Mulvey, Mira Nair, Kathryn Bigelow, Marziyeh Meshkini, Lynne Ramsay.

Assessment is by a combination of coursework essay and exam.

As part of The International Placement Year you will normally spend at least eight months abroad in your third year. You will have the opportunity to:

• analyse the contemporary relevance of a tradition, contemporary social, political or economic issue, or a living part of the regional culture.
• reflect critically on cultural differences observed in everyday life such as social relationships, politics, attitudes to food, drink, religion, etc., explaining them in the context of various historical, social and cultural developments.
• think analytically about your intercultural position and understanding of the relevant culture(s).
• reflect on language use (different registers, varieties of pronunciation and accents, dialects, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions, and aspects of grammar) and the process of the acquisition of skills in the relevant language(s).

The module also aims to enhance and develop your language skills, with all assessments being written in the target language. If you have started a language as a beginner in year one you will spend a minimum of four months in a country where that language is spoken. If you are a joint honours student who is studying two languages, you may choose to spend the year in either of the two countries concerned or, if appropriate arrangements can be made, you can spend a semester in each country.

Lancaster University will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner. Students conduct either a study placement at a partner University, a teaching assistantship placement with the British Council or an appropriate working placement with a vetted employer abroad or a combination of placements (please note that there are some restrictions on British Council placements which usually last for the whole of the academic year).

Joint honours degrees

If you are a joint honours student who is combining a language with a non-language subject, your placement year will provide the opportunity to develop your language skills and cultural awareness, but will not necessarily relate to the non-language aspect of your degree.

Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of your International Placement Year.

This module includes authentic texts only slightly adapted from the originals, with a special focus on contemporary Chinese society and institutions. You will have the opportunity to learn how to communicate comprehensively and systematically using the appropriate expressions and language norms in the right context.

You’ll have the opportunity to develop your skills in understanding and joining political, academic and journalistic discussions using advanced Chinese language skills. An aim of this module is for you to be able to translate between English and Chinese and develop an idiomatic style of formal writing.

It’s not necessary to have studied the Part I, Chinese Language 2 or 3 modules in order to continue on to this module. However you must have reached a CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) B1-B2 level of Chinese proficiency.

This module is integrated with the Chinese Language 4 module.

This module has two main aims. The first one is to enhance your linguistic proficiency with emphasis on understanding of spoken and written Chinese, the speaking of Chinese (prepared and spontaneous) in both formal and informal settings, the writing of Chinese, and the systematic study of Chinese lexis, grammar and syntax. The second aim is to increase your awareness, knowledge and understanding of contemporary China.

By the end of this module we aim for you to have an informed interest in the society and culture of the Chinese-speaking world. You should also have acquired almost native-speaker abilities in both spoken and written language.

This third-year course will add to the theoretical, historical and cultural aspects of film investigated in Years 1 and 2, while focusing more closely on the challenging aesthetic and critical debates surrounding the concept of modernity. It will look at films made in the silent era, in post-war Europe and in Britain and the US. Writings on film will be considered in conjunction with viewings of particular films, close analysis of specific filmic techniques and methods, and historical and theoretical approaches to film. The course will also pay attention to the debates of classical and contemporary film theory, feminist approaches and other critical traditions (semiotics, structuralism, formalism, cognitivism). Students will be introduced to key debates in classical and contemporary film theory, with topics exploring the relations between film and art, cinema and politics, cinema and psychoanalysis, and, above all, the question of how films produce meaning(s).

This module explores the history and theory of African American cinema, primarily since the 1960s, focussing on the complicated relationship between this filmmaking tradition and mainstream (Hollywood) projections of blackness. Chronologically organized, it starts with the work of Oscar Micheaux and the “race” films of the 1920s and 1930s, ending with films made in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement, such as Dee Rees’s Pariah and Mudbound,Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise, Ava DuVernay’s Selma and 13th, Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, and Ryan Cooglar’s Fruitvale Station and Black Panther.

On the way to the 21st century, you will examine the cross-over stardom of Sidney Poitier (In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) in the context of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, the rise of blaxploitation cinema (Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Shaft, Superfly, Coffy and The Spook Who Sat by the Door) in the context of Black Power in the late 1960s and the political disillusionment of the 1970s. Blaxploitation’s commercial breakthrough is compared to films by members of the “Los Angeles Rebellion”, such as Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust), Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep) and Haile Gerima (Bush Mama), who strived for an alternative independent black film aesthetic.

These contrasting legacies are connected to the rise of hip hop cinema in the 1980s and 1990s, in the work of Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing), John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) and the Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society).

This module centres on the artistically and politically adventurous phase of American filmmaking circa 1967-1979. Typically topics studied include:

• Introduction – Hollywood breakdown (Easy Rider, Medium Cool)
• The future of allusion: New Hollywood’s nostalgic mode (The Godfather)
• Popular feminism (Klute, Woman Under the Influence)
• Politics and conspiracy (The Parallax View, All The President’s Men)
• Disaster movies (The Poseidon Adventure)
• Comedy (Annie Hall)
• Exploitation cinema I: blaxploitation (Coffy, Foxy Brown)
• Exploitation cinema II: horror/body genres (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
• Blockbuster cinema and the franchise film (Star Wars)
• The end of the New (Apocalypse Now)

This module introduces you to major themes that shape the experience of contemporary city dwellers: gender, social inequality, and practices of citizenship. These interlinking themes will be introduced through novels, poetry and films on the following European, North American (with the emphasis on immigrant communities within its cities) and Latin American cities: New York, Mexico City, Santiago de Chile, Barcelona, Berlin, and Los Angeles.

Each topic will be covered though an introductory lecture and a core text, followed by a range of additional texts for students to analyse. During workshops students will share their findings and opinions, emphasizing on identifying links between the topics studied, aiming to encourage discussion.

The format of the module encourages cross-referencing between the themes of the module (for example, gender and sexuality are relevant to an analysis of social inequality, and vice versa).

This module explores Hong Kong cinema from the mid-1980s up to the present – an era whose beginning witnesses the international breakthrough of a new wave of local filmmakers, and which goes on to encompass the early 1990s’ production surge, the 1997 handover to mainland China, the crippling economic crisis, and the outbreak of the SARS virus. The module will give you the opportunity to develop an understanding of a number of basic industrial, aesthetic, social and cultural trends marking Hong Kong films in the contemporary era. These include the emergence and impact of independent production; the rise of ‘high-concept’ filmmaking; the movement toward pan-Asian co-productions; the importance and cross-marketing of star performers and local musical traditions such as Cantopop; the popularity of genres like the swordplay film; and aesthetic tendencies such as episodic plotting and the narrative ‘thematisation’ of politics and identity. Emphasis will be placed not only on representative mainstream product, but also on the emergence of a distinct Hong Kong art cinema, whose presence and success on the international festival circuit has brought artistic credibility to a predominantly popular cinema, and which has heralded the arrival of a fresh wave of local ‘auteur’ filmmakers.

This module provides an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of the ways in which creative practitioners produce and deliver their work. It will provide an overview of the challenges faced by freelance practitioners, producers and small cultural companies within the creative industries. You will also develop a working understanding of the key management and enterprise skills involved in delivering creative projects. Working in groups you will put your learning into practice through the delivery of your own live creative arts project. This will enable you to understand the skills, knowledge, attributes and behaviours relevant for employment in the arts and creative industries.

This module allows you to undertake a major independent research project on a topic of your choice, presented in the form of a dissertation. The module is taught through lectures focused on research skills and one-to-one supervision. As a design student, you are encouraged to do a practical design project that shows a critical awareness of key debates in a particular field and, optionally, the skills required to produce a portfolio on the design aspects of the dissertation. Upon completion, you will be able to demonstrate your ability to undertake a major project that includes conducting research, engaging in a sustained critical analysis of relevant texts, building an argument and applying this to design practice.

This module aims at exploring the nature of the relationship between the individual and society, notions of progress and economic justice, as these are still widely debated topics in contemporary Europe in light of the current economic and political crisis.

This module will use the concepts of utopia, dystopia and ideology as a forum for discussion on the relationship between individual imagination and social discourse in the nineteenth century, as well as the relationship between fiction and political discourse. You will look at the major intellectual debates which influenced the contemporary European thought after the French Revolution.

You will explore the development of major ideologies and cultural movements such as Romanticism, Marxism, Socialism and Positivism, spanning from the period immediately following the French Revolution to the middle of the nineteenth century.

What is the connection between masculinity and modernity? Ideas about modern manhood have had significant influence around the world since the ‘globalisation’ wrought by colonisation and imperialism in the nineteenth century. In the face of the vigorous physicality and scientific education of men trained in the classrooms and sports fields of industrialised Western countries, Confucian models of masculinity such as the talented young scholar and the cultivated gentleman seemed outdated and effete. People began to wonder if the Qing Dynasty’s ‘decline’ in power and status and susceptibility to foreign invasion could somehow be due to the poor quality of her men. Reflecting the link between masculinity and the nation, an unflattering moniker was coined for China: ‘The sick man of East Asia’.

The story of China’s engagement with modernity since then can be told in large part through the shifting models of manhood that have variously appeared, disappeared, or been reworked throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

This module focuses on the search for new icons of masculinity in a modernising China, introducing students to key discursive notions such as “Mr Science” and “Mr Democracy” in the Republican era; the worker-soldier-peasant triad in the Mao era; the peasant heroes of the immediate post-Mao years; and the “explosive” nouveau riche, white-collar, migrant worker, and “little fresh meat” masculinities of the market-infused postsocialist era.

You will analyse how cultural products present and critique notions of Chinese masculinities. Material is considered for its significance in key debates about masculinities, and may include novels, short stories, essays, graphic posters, art, music, films, TV drama series and reality shows, online dramas, websites, as well as secondary literature from a range of academic disciplines.

Language: This module is taught in English. Sources are routinely accessed in Chinese, so a working knowledge of the language is required.

This module offers an introduction to the broad area of silent cinema and to a range of critical approaches to this rich area of study. You will have the opportunity to view and analyse a number of important films. We will also explore a number of critical questions raised by this material with regard to the writing and study of histories of cinema (and popular culture in general). We will examine the relationships between technology and form, the economics of film production, distribution and reception, the relationship between cinema and national identity, the social and cultural impact of new (entertainment) media and the study of cinema audiences.

The question at the heart of Sinophone Studies is “What is Chineseness in the modern world?” This question has played out in different fashions across the various Sinophone cultures.

Sinophone cultural production offers crucial counterpoints to the depictions of Chinese identity in mainland Chinese, Han-centric creative works. Drawing from the work of scholars in the nascent field of Sinophone studies, this course understands Sinophone cultures as existing in the “minority nationalities” of China; in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and other locations in the East Asian “Sinosphere”; and in the significant Sinitic-language immigrant populations of the Americas, Australasia, and elsewhere. It recognises Sinophone cultural production as multilingual and multi-ethnic.

This module introduces key Sinophone literary works and films. Discussion focuses on the diverse ways in which Chineseness is imagined, negotiated, or resisted in these works, and the alternative cultural identities that they put forward.

You will consider the significance of a range of materials in key debates about Chineseness, including novels, short stories, and films, as well as secondary literature on Sinophone cultural production.

Language: This module is taught in English. Sources are routinely accessed in Chinese, so a working knowledge of the language is required.

This module lives in the space between the here-and-now and a future made possible by science. You’ll explore perceptions of science across different languages and cultures, from Asia to Europe to the Americas, and explore relationships between the spiritual and the material.

You’ll look at some intriguing questions about science and the twenty-first century human condition:

• Where is AI taking humanity and are we already robots?
• Might genetic engineering lead to animals developing souls?
• Are science fiction writers contemporary shaman?
• What unseen matters and horrors can science fiction render visible and comprehensible?
• What possibilities do modern medical advances offer for transformative queer and trans healthcare?

You’ll find out about differing views on these and other topics from a wide range of source materials, such as speculative fiction, graphic novels, film, philosophical essays, and online talks.

Typically, the module covers five main themes:

• Spirit and Matter
• Speculative Fiction
• The Post-Human
• Philosophy, Art and Neuroscience
• Biomedicine and the Hospital

What makes a good translation and how do translations do good? This module aims to help you understand the practice of translation as it has evolved historically from the 18th century to the present across European and American societies. The materials we study include historical textual sources (philosophical essays on the craft of translation from French, German and Hispanic authors of the 19th and 20th centuries), representative fictional texts reflecting on translation processes, and contemporary documents from the EU directorate on translation, PEN and the Translators' Association. We will also make considerable use of contemporary online resources as exemplified by Anglophone advocates of intercultural exchange such as Words Without Borders. Our aim is to look at translation as both a functional process for getting text in one language accurately into another and a culturally-inflected process that varies in its status and purpose from one context to another. We will pay particular attention to the practical role that literary translators play within the contemporary global publishing industry and consider the practicalities of following a career in literary translation in the Anglophone world.