COLT 1410B - Chinese Opera: Aesthetics and Politics of the Performing Body

Institution:

Brown University

Subject:

Description:

Explores traditional Chinese drama, which has always been a music theater, from the perspective of contemporary cultural theory, and in a comparative and interdisciplinary context. Analyzing classical plays in relation to their staging in today's regional operas, this course will first examine the dialectics of "prettiness and artistry" in traditional Chinese theater aesthetics and its implications in gender politics. It will then move on to investigate issues of cross-dressing and erotic desire in Chinese drama of the late imperial period in comparison with that of early modern England. Lastly, the ramifications of Chinese opera as a national imagination in modern cultural politics, as embodied in the playM. Butterfly,the film Farewell My Concubine,and the Beijing opera version ofTurandot, will be addressed.

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.brown.edu

Phone Number:

(401) 863-1000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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