Suggested topics for reading report

You may choose one of the following questions, or part of it. Alternatively, you may clear another topic with the instructor.

	Second half of the quarter:
1.	Compare the painting theme in Peony Pavilion / Strange Tales from Liaozhai with another Chinese text taught in class. How does the painting theme reflect the unstable nature of reality? What is the role of appearance in determining reality? Base your answer on specific passage(s).
2.	Compare the role of one or more specific visual images in Strange Tales from Liaozhai and their filmic representation. What is the effect of placing the images in a visual medium such as film? What is the role of visual images in the textual narrative?
3.	What is the role of disfiguration in Face/Off? How does it compare with earlier films shown in class?
4.	Compare one Chinese text/film with one Hollywood text/film. How and why are they similar/different? Relate the question to a specific theme and illustrate with close reading of a passage/shot sequence.
	First half of the quarter:
1.	How does Foucault’s discussion of This is Not a Pipe inform our understanding of horror film? Foucault claims that “resemblance” calls for an original to be imitated while “similitude” has no origin. Is there an “origin” to the monsters in Frankenstein / Phantom of the Opera / Terminator? Do the monsters present the same elusive qualities as the words in Magritte’s paintings (“the bird,” “the valise”)?
2.	Compare the filmic version of Frankenstein / Phantom of the Opera to the original text. How does the film relate to the book from which it derives?
3.	Compare the Frankenstein and Phantom films. Are there any differences in their treatment of the respective monsters? Are there any significant differences in the films’ treatment of their textual source?
4.	Compare Terminator and Frankenstein (or Terminator and Phantom of the Opera). How does the modern setting modify the conventions of earlier films? What is the symbolism in the Terminator’s amorphic, self-reconstructing body?
5.	Compare the first encounter with the ghost in Hamlet and Peony Pavilion — how are the ghosts described? What makes them repulsive/attractive? What are the differences between the two plays in this respect?