Girls with Big Ideas:  Gidget and Song of Youth 
Wendy Larson, PhD
5 November, 2022      ​
​9:30 am - 11:00 am, PT
Published within a year of each other in the late 1950s, Yang Mo’s Song of Youth and Frederick Kohner’s Gidget became wildly successful cultural phenomena, one in China and the other in the United States.  Both were made into films shortly after publication, expanding their influence.  Join First Saturday PDX and Dr. Wendy Larson as she considers the two novels together—one a hefty 600-page book that shows a young woman’s transformation into a revolutionary, and the other a slim 120-page book that revolves around a young woman chasing waves and boys.  In an uncanny comparison, the young protagonists Lin Daojing and Gidget similarly defy the gender expectations of their times.  They fight inequality with an optimistic state of mind, which tells us a great deal about the respective environments in which they live. 
About the speaker:
Wendy Larson is Professor Emerita at the University of Oregon, and a specialist on modern and contemporary Chinese culture. Her recent books include Zhang Yimou: Globalization and the Subject of Culture (2017), and From Ah Q to Lei Feng: Freud and Revolutionary Spirit in 20th Century China (2008). Her present research project analyzes optimism under socialism and capitalism, with focus on 1950s China and the United States.
Suggested Resources:
​
Yang Mo, Song of Youth, novel, translated by Nan Ying (Beijing Press, 1958)

Song of Youth, the film (Beijing Film Studio, color, 1959) - available here  (with english subtitles)
​
Frederick Kohner,  Gidget, The Little Girl with Big Ideas, the novel,  (Berkley Publishing Group, New York, NY, first edition 1957) 

Gidget, the film (Columbia Pictures, color, 1959)

​Join us after the webinar from 11 - 11:30am in our First Saturday PDX Tea House to further the discussion and online social time.  Bring a cup of tea! 
​(Separate  access link for this will be provided in your single registration for this event.)
Our program series is supported by Portland State University's Institute for Asian Studies, Northwest China Council, Lan Su Chinese Garden and the Portland Chinatown Museum.   All our programs are free and open to the public.