Alex and Stephanie's group

ston3350

October 05, 2008, 02:30 PM

Hi! I'm glad things finally got sorted out

ston3350

October 06, 2008, 04:49 AM

So I guess we're doing It's over (again) and A dad gives advice to a broken-hearted son. Do you just want to split the dialogues in half and take turns talking about/summarizing each dialogue?

ston3350

October 06, 2008, 05:58 AM

Here's a summary of all of the dialogues.

In the Other Woman, it looks like there's something going on with Zhang Liang and his co-worker. Lili is getting suspicious of Zhang Liang because he is working overtime and his mobile phone just happens to run out of batteries when it has never done that before. Moreover, when Lili tries to call the office and another woman laughs and answers the phone, Lili starts to get jealous and thinks that Zhang Liang is flirting with other women. It’s clear that Lili is starting to become insecure about their relationship and they are starting to be a bit unstable.

In Confiding in a Conniving Friend, Lili makes a lot of assumptions of Zhang Liang. She thinks that Zhang Liang is flirting with his female co-worker and that he purposefully turned of his cell phone. She says how all Zhang Liang is unreliable and self-absorbed like all other men. Chen Jing tries to defend Zhang Liang a little, saying he’s a reliable and trustworthy person and many co-workers joke around with each other. By the end o the conversation, however, Chen Jing begins to agree with Lili and says how Zhang Liang is a good guy, but might now be the right person for Lili.

In the Break up, things end pretty bitterly between Lili and Zhang Liang. It’s clear that both of them are jealous of other people, as Zhang Liang is jealous of Liu Xiang and Lili is jealous of Zhang Liang’s coworker. I feel like Lili is overreacting a bit and things wouldn’t have blown out of proportion if she wasn’t so insecure about their relationship.

In A Dad gives advice to a broken-hearted son, I feel kind of bad for Zhang Liang’s father because he’s trying so hard to make Zhang Liang feel better, but Zhang Liang just insults him by saying how he doesn’t understand him. His dad tries to console Zhang Liang and gives him advice since he went through the same thing with another girl he dated before Zhang Liang’s mother. Zhang liang dismisses him though and says that they couldn’t have really been in love.

In Seeking Comfort, Lili meets up with Liu Xiang. She’s pretty upset during the whole conversation and tells Liu Xiang that she just broke up with Zhang Liang. Liu Xiang seems to pounce on the opportunity that Lili is single again and talks about how good of a boyfriend he would be to her. I think it’s pretty rude of how Liu Xiang doesn’t even wait to give Lili time to recuperate from her break up and is already starting to make moves on her. It’s funny how he calls her a pistachio though.

In Uncomfortable encounter at a bar, Zhang Liang and his friend run into Lili and Liu Xiang. Zhang Liang and his friend believe that since they see Lili and Liu Xiang together, it confirms their suspicions and that Lili really was two-timing him. They throw many insulting remarks at each other and eventually leave the bar in a very bitter mood.

In It’s Over, it seems like Zhang Liang is trying to make up with Lili at the beginning. He wants to be friends and continue seeing Lili, but then Lili breaks the news that she’s moving to Australia and that she’s become engaged to Liu Xiang. It leads to a sad ending and Zhang Liang and Lili have to part ways.

In It’s Over again, Zhang Liang tries to make up with Lili again but Lili shuts him down, telling him that they should just be friends. Zhang Liang tries to fight back saying how Liu Xiang isn’t right for Lili and how she is shallow for picking Liu Xiang just because he is richer. Lili argues that Zhang Liang is only good at being jealous and that he shouldn’t be talking since things happened between him and FeiFei. Zhang Liang and Lili end up fighting and end things for good.

 

asad1

October 08, 2008, 12:16 AM

Great summary :) Maybe we should discuss any cultural aspects or anything we interesting that we found within our dialouges?

I found in "A dad gives advice..." that the 'parents are from another generation and don't understand how the modern day works' approach which Zhang Liang takes is pretty similar to Western culture. Its pretty common to say that our parents are out of touch with reality etc. I'm surprised however that this happens in Chinese culture, I would have thought that kids had more respect for their parents..? I got that impression when I went to China at least. And Zhang Liang is almost rude.

Though the dad was sympathetic, I felt he almost had a 'get over it and move on' attitude. For example in 没什么大不了的, even though when translated into english it says "it's not the end of the world", at the back in the key vocab list it says that 大不了 means terribly serious. So the dad is saying that its not that much of a big deal. Also he goes onto say 好的女孩子多得是, which is where he says that there are alot of other good girls around. Is it just me, or isnt that a little harsh. I mean if I broke up with my boyfriend, my parents wouldn't be saying that, rather they would sympethize and comfort me. You don't want to think about other possible girlfriends/boyfriends when that happens.

Tell me what you think.

I realised that the Chinese language when literally translated overdramatises the meaning. Like when the dad talks about "the agony of love" 爱得死去活来, it literally means hover between life and death because of love. Just something interesting I noticed :p

Also campus beauty literally translated is campus flower 校花. I wonder why flower? I just wonder how they came up with flower with that phrase.

 

The other dialouge that we are doing 'It's over (again)' I find to be pretty similar to Western culture. I just don't understand why Lili is just so stubborn about thinking that something happened between Zhang Liang and Feifei. Other than that, I can't really pick out any things that are of particular interest or significance. Do you see anything?

Do you want to organise who plays whom in each dialogue? Maybe who plays the larger part in 'Dad gives advice' which I think is the dad, can have the smaller part in 'It's over again', which I think might be Zhang Liang. So we have equal parts. Do you have any preferences?

Also we need to talk about any props/costumes we want to use. Since 'Dad gives advice' is set at home, Zhang Liang could be in daggy house clothes (since hes too depressed to really care about his appreance) and maybe he could be looking always at a photograph of Lili. Dad could just have a moustache drawn on or something. Then in the 'Its over again' scene, we could have cups, or beer bottles etc and both Zhang Liang and Lili should dress smart casually. And Lili should be acting really nastily towards Zhang Liang from the start.

 

ston3350

October 08, 2008, 09:04 AM

I agree with you in the dialogue “A dad gives advice to a broken hearted son”. I think there’s definitely a big generational gap between Zhang Liang and his father. It is obvious that they are at very different point in their lives so their perspectives are different, and therefore clash. I think that Zhang Liang’s generation underestimates his father’s generation, assuming that his father did not date other women besides his current mother. In reality, his father’s experiences with love probably weren’t that different from Zhang Liang as both have the opportunity to date different women before settling down. I think Zhang Liang simply misunderstands his father and is pretty selfishly absorbed with his own problems because he is currently very emotional and upset. His father, however, has a better perspective on the situation because he’s had more experience dating other women and having his heart broken before. I do think that his father could have been a little more sympathetic to Zhang Liang since he had recently broken up with Lili and hadn’t recovered from the agony of it.

I’m also surprised that Zhang Liang was so rude to his father and didn’t show him any appreciation for the advice he offered him. While it may have been due to the fact that Zhang Liang was still quite upset from his recent break up, I also think because Zhang Liang was raised in America, so he didn’t learn to treat his elders with the same respect as other people who grow up in China. I’m sure when Zhang Liang’s father was his age, he probably treated his own father with much more respect.

About campus beauty being literally translated as campus flower, I think this is because in Chinese culture, flowers were often used as a metaphor for young women because both were considered to be beautiful, fragile, and in a youthful state. It may come across is somewhat sexist to objectify women in today’s society, but that was the general trend and view of women in ancient China and I think the phrase has just stuck.

I don’t mind playing Zhang Liang in this dialogue. Is that okay with you? Then I can play Lili in “It’s over again” who has more lines. I agree with you though that whoever plays Zhang Liang should be wearing sloppy clothes, maybe whoever plays him should wear sweatpants or pajamas and have their hair kind of messed up and disheveled and be slouched in a chair like they haven’t really showered in a few days haha.

In “It’s over (again”, I feel pretty bad for Zhang Liang because he basically gets rejected twice by Lili. Both Zhang Liang and Lili make gender stereotypes about each other. Zhang Liang thinks that Lili is just like other women who try to date/marry other men who are wealthy so they can live off of them. Lili stereotypes Zhang Liang when she refers to him and FeiFei. She basically implies that all men have commitment issues and are viable to cheating on their girlfriends.

Beer bottles or cups works for this bar scene. Maybe Zhang Liang can throw some around at the end when he storms out.

asad1

October 09, 2008, 06:49 AM

Hay Steph!

Thanks for your thoughts on the 'campus beauty phrase'. I agree with your comment about it being a sexist phrase, but as you can see from this weeks lesson, alot of gender inequalities still exist within China. When I stayed with a family in China a while ago, the wife was telling me how her husband doesn't even know where his own underwear is kept!! So maybe there it does not seem as sexist for them?

No worries, you can play Zhang Liang in the first dialogue and then Lili in the 2nd. Your costume idea sounds good :p haha, can't wait to see you in daggy pjs and unwashed... Just come normal to class and we can mess your hair up etc before we perform.

In 'It's over (again) I agree with you about how both Zhang Liang and Lili make gender sterotypes about each other. Whats worse, they don't know how to communicate! Lili won't even think about the possibility that Zhang Liang is telling the truth. Its like if your boyfriend talks to another girl, he is immediatly cheating on you. I wonder if thats a cultural thing in China or is it just their personalities?

Great, I can throw stuff around at the end of this scene :D I'll probably just wear jeans and a guys white button up top or something..No way am I wearing a suit, it will be massive on me.