...Good morning teachers and fellow classmates. How can you understand about yourself or the world around you? Journeys can be inner, imaginative or physical. The journeys that we experience help us understand more about ourselves, others and the world around us. In the novel, “Mao’s Last Dancer”, the protagonist Li Cunxin takes an emotional journey as he discovers and learns more about the world around him. He experiences an inner journey and also gains new insights about himself and others. The related text, “The Road Not Taken”, also explores an inner and imaginative journey, and the emotional effect that this has on the persona through various techniques. As a young boy living in poverty, Li Cunxin was accepted to a ballet academy in Beijing, China. After attending for a while, one of his ballet...
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...where you were told what to do, and what to say. Today I will be speaking to you about Mao’s Last Dancer, the film adaption of the autobiography of Li Cunxin. To begin with, I will speak about the Cultural Revolution in China, where the story is set. Li’s story took place during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution. This revolution took place from 1966 to 1976, lead by Mao Zedong, who was the leader of the Communist Party of China at the time. The Cultural Revolution led to millions of people being persecuted and thousands more being killed. Because of the Cultural Revolution, people no longer had freedom of speech and actions. If anyone was found criticising the Government or taking part in anti-communist operations, they would be arrested immediately. Generally, the people of China took to the idea of communism because they had been convinced and continually told that communism would bring great wealth to China. This was great news to the people of China because they had suffered a famine, which lead to the death of millions of people. The Cultural Revolution officially ended in 1976, after Chairman Mao died. Those found to be part of The Gang of Four, a group of Chinese Communist Officials, were arrested for treasonous crimes. In Mao’s Last Dancer, it is shown how Li was taught at school in Shandong that Chairman Mao would end poverty in China. After he arrived at the Beijing Dance Academy when he was 11 years old...
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...Year 10 English - 2015 Alternate Realities – Task 2 Task: Create a narrative style response that delves into some of the big ideas you have encountered in the texts during our study of the Context ‘Alternate Realities’. You must draw on ideas from at least one text that was explored together in class. Possible forms: * a short story or reflection, * a series of diary entries or letters, * a personal article for a newspaper or magazine, * a memoir Prompts: You will need to respond to the concepts in one of the following prompts: 1. The world we see around us is shaped by our society. 2. Memories from our societal past can influence our reality 3. Relationships with others and our resulting emotions can shape our view of the world. 4. Conflict arises with different views of the world. 5. Reality can never be totally manipulated. 6. A new understanding of reality can change everything. Word limit: 600+ (not including the Statement of Intention) Statement of Intention: Before writing, you will need to complete a Statement of Intention. This will be submitted along with your final piece. **See mystpauls to access the template for the Statement of Intention. Assessment Criteria for Year 10 Context Task 2 Criteria | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Planning and drafting process. | Well planned with careful attention to structural features. Thoroughly proof-read. | Effectively planned with clear attention to...
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...Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin Dedication To the two special women in my life—my mother and my wife Mao’s Last Dancer A Wedding Qingdao, 1946 On the day of her marriage, a young girl sits alone in her village home. It is autumn, a beautiful October morning. The country air is cool but fresh. The young girl hears happy music approaching her house. She is only eighteen, and she is nervous, frightened. She knows that many marriage introducers simply take money and tell lies. Some women from her village marry men who don't have all their functional body parts. Those women have to spend the rest of their lives looking after their husbands. Wife beating is common. Divorce is out of the question. Divorced women are humiliated, despised, suffering worse than an animals fate. She knows some women hang themselves instead and she prays this is not going to be her fate. She prays to a kind and merciful god that her future husband will have two legs, two arms, two eyes and two ears. She prays that his body parts are normal and functional. She worries that he will not be kind-hearted and will not like her. But most of all she &+x worries about her unbound feet. Bound feet are still in fashion. Little girls as young as five or six have to tuck four toes under the big toe and squeeze them hard to stop the growth. It is extremely painful, and the girls have to change the cloth bandages and wash their feet daily to avoid infection. The tighter the feet are bound the smaller the feet will...
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...Education of Artists: Art and Story CONTENTS SECTION ONE: Marcel’s Studio Visit with Elstir……………………………………………………….. David Carrier SECTION TWO: Film and Video Narrative Brief Narrative on Film-The Case of John Updike……………………………………. Thomas P. Adler With a Pen of Light …………………………………………………………………… Michael Fink Media and the Message: Does Media Shape or Serve the Story: Visual Storytelling and New Media ……………………………………………………. June Bisantz Evans Visual Literacy: The Language of Cultural Signifiers…………………………………. Tammy Knipp SECTION THREE: Narrative and Fine Art Beyond Illustration: Visual Narrative Strategies in Picasso’s Celestina Prints………… Susan J. Baker and William Novak Narrative, Allegory, and Commentary in Emil Nolde’s Legend: St. Mary of Egypt…… William B. Sieger A Narrative of Belonging: The Art of Beauford Delaney and Glenn Ligon…………… Catherine St. John Art and Narrative Under the Third Reich ……………………………………………… Ashley Labrie 28 15 1 22 25 27 36 43 51 Hopper Stories in an Imaginary Museum……………………………………………. Joseph Stanton SECTION FOUR: Photography and Narrative Black & White: Two Worlds/Two Distinct Stories……………………………………….. Elaine A. King Relinquishing His Own Story: Abandonment and Appropriation in the Edward Weston Narrative………………………………………………………………………….. David Peeler Narrative Stretegies in the Worlds of Jean Le Gac and Sophe Calle…………………….. Stefanie Rentsch SECTION FIVE: Memory Does The History of Western Art Tell a Grand Story?…………………………………… Eugene E. Selk...
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