Comparative Essay – Comparing The Laramie Project and Mao’s Last Dancer Life Writing as a genre refers to the recording or creation of a narrative of experiences, events and significant memories in someone’s life in the form of biographies, autobiographies, letters etc. There are certain elements like vocabulary and language used to help readers gain a deeper insight of the text – these are known as codes and conventions. The Laramie Project and Mao’s Last Dancer are two texts that have a strong link between the conventions used. The Laramie Project is an “extremely moving drama” (Kensington Arts Theatre) which is an arrangement of interviews in relation to a …show more content…
hate crime which involved the murder of Matthew Sheppard – a young homosexual. The text is written in “a very thoughtful, pained and is powerful in an understated way …” (The Variety 2001). Mao's Last Dancer is an autobiography “that is very thought provoking and touching” (The Flame 2015) written by Chinese-Australian Author Li Cunxin and first published in 2003. “The story chronicles an extraordinary artist at three stages of his life” (The Variety 2009) from being a young village boy destined to labour in the fields of China to a world-famous professional dancer. This essay will focus on how conventions of conflict, structure and characterisation have been displayed and used in both The Laramie Project (Moisés Kaufman, 2014) and Mao’s Last Dancer (Li Cunxin, 2003) in order to tell their story and evoke a response. Conflict is what fuels action and drives the plot. Structure is used by the composers to help make a text easy to comprehend for the readers. Characterisation is used in both of these texts to allow the readers to gain an in-depth understanding of how the characters are developing and how they feel in certain events. The use of conflict in the genre of Life Writing is what starts action of the story and through conflict the responders are often able to really understand the events in the story and what caused them.
The Laramie Project displays one large conflict which is comprised of converging conflicts. The representation of internal conflict can be seen in the interview with Jedidah Shultz. His account symbolises internal conflict since he is trying to reconcile both versions of Laramie - before the murder and after “If you asked me before I would have told you Laramie is a beautiful town … now after Matthew, Laramie is a town defined by an accident …” (Kaufman, 7). External conflict is displayed through the use of interviews which show that some civilians accept the idea homosexuals and some do not due to their religious beliefs. One of the people who disapproved of the idea of homosexuality was a Baptist member who said in his interview “… as he was tied to the fence that he had time to reflect on a moment when someone had spoken the word of the Lord to him …” (Kaufmann, 67). The interviews with the locals who spoke against homosexuality and those that accepted it, also represents another layer of conflict which is social conflict because the differing opinions are what divides the town of Laramie. Similarly, Mao’s Last Dancer focuses on the same types of conflict as The Laramie Project. Conflicts in Mao’s Last Dancer range from self-doubt and physical challenges that produce inner …show more content…
conflict. Likewise, social conflict is caused by looking and acting differently to others when you become a member of another society. The third conflict displayed is external conflict that results when an individual resists the political or cultural laws imposed on them. Li endures significant inner conflict “I clutched onto my niang’s precious quilt … and sobbed myself to sleep” (Cunxin,138). As a result of striving for his dream of dancing and achieving success, Li has to leave behind his family, culture and learn about the propaganda of the Chinese Government. Li’s success did not end with his dancing career, he managed to defect to America and marry outside of his culture. Both Mao’s Last Dancer and The Laramie Project explore different types of conflict to help drive the plot and action of the story. Structure refers to the arrangement of relations between the parts or elements of a particular text to make it easy to comprehend. The way that the writer chooses to structure their text results in how the plot unfolds and how the audience interprets it. The Laramie Project is a three act play where each act has a series of interconnected moments that are structured to portray multiple viewpoints from ministers, locals and other civilians side by side to show the impact of Matthew's murder. The moments use interviews and transcripts where the dialogue is condensed and selected, then layered and woven across the story, other elements are used throughout to connect the piece together like narration and flashbacks which result in a circular structure. The collage arrangement of interviews allows for the plot to unfold gradually as each interview adds more detail and little pieces of the plot are revealed by each interview. In contrast, there is a slight difference in the structure of Mao’s Last Dancer. It is also a four-part story which focuses on different parts of Li’s life as he progresses as a dancer. The structure used in Mao’s Last Dancer is the typical chronological structure that is used in most autobiographies. The use of a chronological structure and parables allows the readers to feel like they are on the journey with Li, which helps to make the plot to be easier to understand for the audience and puts emphasis on significant events in Li’s life. The structures of both texts are very different and allow for the plot to build in different ways. The Laramie Project uses interviews to gradually add to the plot through various interviews and Mao’s Last Dancer uses a chronological structure which causes the plot to be revealed in the order of how Li progresses in his life. In Life Writing characterisation refers to the representation and development for both the subject and people related to it.
In The Laramie Project editing has a significant impact on the development of characters because it is a piece of verbatim theatre which uses a variety of interviews. Since all the interviews are pieces of verbatim it allows the readers to gain an insight of the characters’ personalities and beliefs because the interviews have not been edited and are the exact accounts from each person. Kaufman’s editing also plays a major role in characterisation through the selection of what parts of interviews to use and how each account is joined together. This helps to give a deeper understanding of the event than the interviews themselves. In comparison, Mao’s Last Dancer does not use editing as much to display characterisation and character development but rather describing how Li’s decisions affect his journey. Mao’s Last Dancer uses a lot of dialogue, vocabulary (which strengthens the representations of Chinese culture) and mainly a form of storytelling of the “ The Little Frog in the Well” told by Li’s father. The little frog represents Li and how he is stuck in the well of poverty, Li is described as “sad” and “frustrated” (Cunxin, 43) that he could not get out of that well. The story shows that not being able to get out of the well assists in developing Li’s character and enhances his determination even more to become successful. This type of editing
provides the readers with an analogy for Li’s emotions to help them understand what Li has to endure throughout his life and journey. Mao’s Last Dancer and The Laramie Project both use unique forms of editing to display characterisation and character development to help the reader gain a deeper insight. In conclusion, the use of conflict, structure and characterisation is very important in the genre of Life Writing in the way it can influence readers. Both authors have woven the conventions through the text to make an effective piece of Life Writing and to help the readers relate to characters and effectively narrate the stories. Conflict was used to fuel action and keep the story moving forward. Structure has been used to make the text easy to understand and help the plot unfold in a certain way. Characterisation is used to show character development through editing to help the readers gain a deeper insight. The Laramie Project and Mao’s Last Dancer conform to these specific conventions by how they shape meaning and evoke responses from the audience.
Laramie project is very sensitive and crucial issue which was wisely broad up in the form of a docudrama in front of the community. The story of Matthew Shepard's highlighted many issues like hate crime, gay/lesbian relationship and personal identity which are still considered as tactful for many peoples. This play also described the role of media, police and an individual in the entire process and shows the influence of this incidence on a person's life.
This type of "narrative" writing gives believability to the people, and a sense of realism to the story.
Mao’s Last Dancer, directed by Bruce Beresford, is driven by Li’s experiences in the clash between American and Chinese culture and the journey to discovering his own identity. Through Li’s eyes this film shows us his search for identity which can sometimes be helped or hindered by the difference in cultures. These themes are shown during the film through the use of Symbolic, Written, Audio and Technical conventions (SWAT).
The idea that resulted in the Little Seamstress leaving the mountain maybe viewed as ironic by the reader. The ideas of being different and individual, that Lou held and put to practice were what communist Leader Chair man Mao Zedong originally feared. This was why the texts were originally banned in the first place, and viewed as revolutionary trash. As it was thought that they may result in an u...
The novel 'Mao's Last Dancer', is a gripping story about the author, Li Cunxin and his story to success as a professional ballet dancer in communist China. The story shows how hard work, determination and hardships lead to the achievement of goals. Throughout the book, Li suffers from a number of physically and mentally challenging struggles that test him and push him to become stronger and more determined. Both mental and physical struggles are equally as difficult to overcome and both play a big part in different stages of Li's life.
Most films captivate the audience’s interest through the main character. This film did just that. Through the main character Li Cunxin, I was able to notice the amount of hard work and dedication which lead Li to become a famous ballet dancer known worldwide. The film based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin, “Mao’s Last Dancer” directed by Bruce Beresford is about a Chinese boy named Li Cunxin who was born into a large family of 6 boys. At the age of eleven, Li was selected from a poor Chinese village by Madam Mao’s cultural representatives to leave his family and study ballet in Beijing. The film focussed on his eventual departure from China to U.S.A after being selected by a world leading choreographer, Ben Stevenson and the consequences that followed.
In this day and age, writing is being portrayed through various mediums, such as film and television. Some of those portrayals depict writing as both good and bad depending on the situation that is present. Authors such as, by E. Shelley Reid, Kevin Roozen, and Anne Lamott all write about important writing concepts that are being depicted in films, like Freedom Writers. The film Freedom Writers shows a positive and accurate portrayal of writing in the sense that the writers should have a connection to what they are writing about, writing is a form of communication, and that writing does not have to be perfect the first time.
Mao Zedong was born December 26, 1893 and lived until September 9 in 1976 when he died in Beijing China. Mao Zedong died from the Motor neuron disease. Mao Zedong was born into a peasant family in the place Shoshanna near Hunan. During the years of 1928 throughout 1931. Mao Zedong and others that worked with Mao Zedong established armies in the hinterlands and created the Red Army which was known as the most feared “army” in china during the time of the revolution.
“Mao’s Last Dancer” is a book about the life of Li Cunxin. Li Cunxin was born into poverty in China under the rule of Mao Ze dung. The book was first published in 2003 and since then has won several awards including the book of the year award. Throughout the novel the composer chronologically cites the life of Li Cunxin and how he felt and where he belonged at certain points in his life.
The time and culture one lives in effects peoples’ thoughts, actions and writing. Writing affects the society it dwells in, this is Vico. These two writings are different, but can be contrasted to see great truths.
to become a dancer - one of the best dancers in the world. After seven
In the outstanding book Mao’s Last Dancer, it tells a life story about a peasant boy named Li Cunxin who’s fate is laid out for him being a labourer in the fields just like his whole family but his determination helps him to escape his destiny. Li was chosen to go to the Beijing Dance Academy to study ballet. He moved away from his home and family to pursue ballet and make his family proud. Li got the chance to go over to America to discover the Western World of ballet. Through hard work, perseverance and dedication, Li was able to escape from his so-called destiny.
Although there were many concepts that were present within the movie, I choose to focus on two that I thought to be most important. The first is the realistic conflict theory. Our textbook defines this as, “the view that prejudice...
Most films captivate the audience’s interest through the main character. This film did just that. Through the main character Li Cunxin, I was able to notice the amount of hard work and dedication which lead Li to become a famous ballet dancer known worldwide. The film, based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin, “Mao’s Last Dancer” directed by Bruce Beresford is about a Chinese boy named Li Cunxin who’s born into a large family of 6 boys. At the age of eleven, Li got chosen from a poverty-stricken Chinese village by Madam Mao’s cultural representatives to leave his family and study ballet in Beijing. This film focussed on his eventual departure from China to U.S.A after being selected by a world leading choreographer, Ben Stevenson including the
Dressed in the drab military uniform that symbolized the revolutionary government of Communist China, Mao Zedong's body still looked powerful, like an giant rock in a gushing river. An enormous red flag draped his coffin, like a red sail unfurled on a Chinese junk, illustrating the dualism of traditional China and the present Communist China that typified Mao. 1 A river of people flowed past while he lay in state during the second week of September 1976. Workers, peasants, soldiers and students, united in grief; brought together by Mao, the helmsman of modern China. 2 He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history.