How cool would it be if going to lectures every week involved watching films? Not that critiqueing and analyzing them every week would be really fun but we would definitely learn more. Anyway, it just hit me last week when i was talking to my friend, Guan that the Chinese Cinema lectures he sat in for the past 2 years and where he's now helping his supervisor out in the technical sides.....this subject involves watching chinese films every week!! now, why didn't he make it clearer to me then?? I've been under the clouds for 2 years!! and my brother, Ching Hwa absolutely likes classes like this...in big lecture halls where he can just reflect on his own.
I mentioned before that I was attending these other chinese classes that Guan was tutoring every Monday morning. Haven't really been very faithful in attending them every week...Guan called both me and my bro his laziest students hahaha.....and Guan is ever kind, photocopying the chapters for free for me in the chinese department. But I told him to stop the photocopying for now. I'm getting a bit lazy and sometimes, I get lost when Guan jumps from here to there in the readings. Mann...those 3rd year chinese students are not quite good in chinese but put me beside them, and i suck even more. The level of chinese in their textbook is so tough and it's supposedly primary school standard. Well, i know if I put in more effort and don't succumb to indiscipline and laziness, I would improve but unfortunately, i succumb to my negative side ....a lot! .....spank me!!
But well....watching films definitely perked our ears up and the fact that the class is run in english and the films have english subtitles. So I went with my bro today to the "chinese cinema" class and this week, we watched Red Sorghum starring Gong Li. Zhang Yi Mou's first major film - you know, the guy who directed HERO! He's directed a number of critically acclaimed films that have done really well at international film festivals.
In the film, there's this really gross part where all of a sudden, the Japanese invade China. Some of the chinese peasants rebel against them and to squash such rebellion, the awful japanese soldiers force these local butchers to skin those rebels alive. One refuses because the rebel he is supposed to skin is his master. The other is so scared but ultimately does it or else be skinned alive himself. So grosss....such depictions really stir up anti-japanese sentiments in me a bit. You know, after all that world war 2 stories on the brutality of the japs we hear about.
And i can now say "sorghum" in Mandarin!! :D
This morning at work, this chinese guy comes up to the register and shows me his packet of iodised salt and starts asking me questions in mandarin. And I seriously didn't understand what he was asking me about because my vocabulary is so low and i don't even know how to say salt or iodine in mandarin!! Well, I could tell it was something about the salt...probably the iodine or something. I looked around for any of my chinese workmates but none of them had started their shifts yet.... sighh...Maybe I should have pretended to be Korean or something.
It's times like this that i feel my inadequacy and shame of even calling myself chinese. But it does make me desire to improve.
blah blah blah.....gee...what a ramble!! :D
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