Week 2 - Discussion Question - INTL 5645 - Assignment Example

Discussion Question The film “To Live” was based on a novel written by Yu Hua. The controversial film was banned in mainland china and the director banned from producing for two years. China’s contemporary history especially during the Mao period shaped various aspect of the Chinese people. The period saw an increased concentration of available resources to fuel the economy. The nation has one of the top populations in the world. The labor allowed the nation to develop it industrial sector.

This was achieved by providing employment to the population, which increased production (Clark 56).The Great Leap Forward portrays a period of hope where the people collected themselves into communities. The communes increased interaction between members in the society and increased production. Increased production ensured that the community was provided for during the period. The film portrays a happier and hopeful society as the people share duties. Collective activities increase the cohesion between the people of china (Seth).

During the great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, the society experience a period of increased food production. This meant that the society was healthy as nutritional needs were catered. The hopes of the people were affected by periods of drought and floods, which affected food production (James 25). The film showed energetic people, which was a sharp contract to the reality. The film captures Cultural Revolution launched by Mao in an attempt to eliminate political opposition. His intention was to return the nation into Maoism.

The sharp contrast with the reality is tragic in the film and affects the credibility of the film (To Live).Works citedClark, Paul. The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.James C.F. Wang, Contemporary Chinese Politics: An Introduction (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 6th edition, 1999), pp. 15-33 and pp. 60-65Seth Faison, "Madame Chiang Kai-shek, a Power in Husbands China and Abroad, Dies at 105," NY
Times, Oct. 25, 2003 To Live [film by Zhang Yimou, 1994] retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

gl=ID&v=s9zx53aof08&hl=id