#308 To Live

Scene from To Live. Character pose for wedding photo in front of the slogan "The working class leads in everything."

First, to use land as a way of viewing the changes that occured in China from 1949 through to the Great Leap Forward. We’ll pick up where we left off with “Constructing Socialism” (slides) and move to the Great Leap.

Second, we’ll reflect on To Live (Huozhe 活着, 1994).

• What are your initial impressions? What stood out to you about the film?
• Which events in the film do you recognize from our class readings and discussion?
• This film (and the original novel by Yu Hua of the same title), was created in mainland China. What aspects of the film make that plausible? Why might the film have attracted a degree of controversy after its release?
• In what ways does the film shed insight on the historical events that might be harder to discover from  reading Wealth and Power or a typical primary source document?
• Which character did you most relate to? Why?
• What do you think is the central theme(s) that hold the film together?

Finally, take about 10 minutes to write a short scene that might have been cut from the film—it could be a scene from before, during, or after the main events of the film take place.

• We will end class by sharing the scenes we have created.