Session 34—Fri, April 13: Chinese (Taipei) film: Three Times, Second Story, 1911 (screening then discussion), Second of four sessions

Topics for this session

❖ Recent cinema from China (Taipei): Three Times, second session of four

Overall, persistent topics for this film:

• Context: This film definitely is making the point: "In this specific place, with this specific social group, at the specific moment in history, love is ..." This is nearly perfect for the themes of this class. Consider the question "How does context (concepts prevalent at that time/place/social group) affect the romantic narrative?" as the primary question of this film even if in class we don't grapple much with it.
• Layering: This film uses the same actor and actress pair for each story and very self-consciously "recycles" the other actresses into interestingly different roles. This is and interesting effect but I'm not sure it is as complex a layering technique as we have seen in the other films (House of Flying Daggers with its false personas, 2046 with its blending of past, present and fictional future, or Dolls with its superimposition of puppets onto humans.) Nevertheless on this one point I would like you to spend a bit of analytic cognition: Is that there is layering significant or just a technique to kick up interpretive possibilities (where "significant" means suggests something about the country's culture or Asian culture).
• Modes of communication: All three of these story segments place emphasis on letters (although what a "letter" is is different depending on the historical time period at hand). Are letters serving the same function in every story or are there important differences? We have not had a lot of letters in our films but we HAVE had a lot of difference qualities to lovers' communication (sparse or open, honest or not, etc.) So, in addition to considering the specific function of letters, please fit it into the larger issue of the status of communication between lovers (and what, if anything, might be culturally suggestive.)
• Use of music: This director loves using music in his films. Lyrics were central to House of Flying Daggers and the "atmospherics" of music were central to 2046. Please consider and compare this film in the context of those.

Today (but see "Thoughts" below):

• We unpack the narrative of this story.

Thoughts*

Story Two is a story of intense hidden pain. Bore down into the narrative and figure out what is going on. This is a narrative that requires your "dective" work to unpack and understand. Don't skip any details while viewing.

All three segments of this film take nearly all of the in-class time. That means:

• We start PROMPTLY.
• Discussions are brief to nonexistent. Consider arranging a discussion hour with your partner or someone else in the class to enrich your ideas. (However, if your partner and you are using this film for your JES you cannot discuss with one another.) Or, jotting down during the film questions you would like to bring up in the general discussion after we have finished screening the film.
• Try your best to have ideas before I call on you; we cannot wait for you to formulate your thoughts after your name has been called.

Given the happy, settled nature of Story One and the very opposite world of Stories Two and Three, and given that Taiwan is independent of Japan in Story One but deeply involved in Japan, in one way or another, in Stories Two (occupied) and Three (Japanese investments — our femal protagonist has the yen sign branded on her throat), our director seems to suggest that Taiwan is much better without Japan ...

Required—to be completed for today's session

Access through sidebar tab FILM MODULES:

✓ Three Times: Characters (review)
✓ Three Times: Characters comments on the module for this day
✓ Three Times: Second session questions (scene summaries optional) on the module for this day

Other*

nothing yet ...

*THOUGHTS: Reading before class probably helps follow session content, reading afterwards might help consolidate notes, revisiting for tests is recommended. Content might be added before class or anytime up until about 24 hours ahead of a midterm.

*TEXTS, MULTIMEDIA NOTES, LINKS: If I have read from something, shown something or presented audio that is not elsewhere mentioned, I usually include that information here for the curious, sometime after the class (since I often make last-minute decisions about including something). It might take a while and sometimes I forget. You can email me.

*OTHER: When possible I note here names, places, and other details that I have mentioned in a lecture that would otherwise not be accessible in the assigned materials or easily located on your own. As with "TEXTS ..." this is usually sometime after class and, again, I might not be able to get around to doing it.