Group 7 Introductions!

 Hi everyone! I'm so happy to be with group 7 as we work on our projects. Our group is going to introduce ourselves as we look forward to getting started on our project! 

Helen

Hi everyone! My name is Helen Zhu (she/hers). I’m a junior majoring in Sociology and Media Studies. I’m really excited to start our research project on the history of The Great Star Theater and its impact on Chinese immigrants. I think this is a great opportunity to learn about how Chinese media texts are presented in a “foreign” context and how that mediates the texts’ relationship with audiences from different cultural backgrounds. This research project will deepen my understanding about Chinese film culture and enable me to explore identity, community, and sense of belonging that stem from the changing history of the Great Star Theater. In particular, I look forward to comparing and contrasting the visual performances including film, opera, and musicals the theater hosted in a particular historical period with the visual performances it is currently hosting. I think such comparison will shed light on the different Chinese immigrant communities the theater facilitates and supports at different times. I will work on collecting primary and secondary information for our research project such as searching scholarly articles and databases online and visiting libraries. I can’t wait to get started!

Michelle

Hello, my name is Michelle Kuang (she/hers). I am a senior studying data science. We will be researching how Chinese immigrant communities have been supported and affected by The Great Star Theater in Chinatown across the times as well as how their relationship is maintained in the current day. I’m excited to be delving specifically into how The Great Star Theater helped Chinese communities settle into the area, and whether the theater still plays a large role in the lives of residents and visitors alike. We will be learning a lot about the origins of both the theater and Chinese immigrant communities, and how time has treated both, especially during the recent pandemic. I’m really looking forward to working with my team to explore The Great Star Theater!

Kylie

Hello everyone! My name is Kylie Barnhart (she/her). I am a junior majoring in Film and Media. I am so excited to be researching and learning more about The Great Star Theater. I’m really intrigued by this theater’s history and I'm looking forward to seeing how it has impacted its community throughout the years. Theaters are places that bring people together, so I can’t wait to learn how this theater has done that. Besides helping my team with the research, I am looking forward to taking charge when it comes to the presentation and making sure that we can put our best foot forward and hopefully make you guys fall in love with this theater like I expect our group to do. I’m so excited to see not only what our team comes up with within our presentation but I can’t wait to see what the other groups do for their presentations as well. 

Oliver 

Hi!! My name is Oliver Mann (he/him) . I am a Junior transfer student whose major is Media Studies. I am excited to be learning more about the Grand Star Theatre and its history in San Francisco. I'm intrigued by the transformation of the theatre throughout its history and learning about the different forms of media that has been shown there. I plan on visiting the theatre in person and getting information first hand from the employees there. I am looking forward to working with my group as I haven’t done a group project since being accepted to Berkeley. I plan on assisting with the research portion and also take on other roles in the group if my teammates need help. 

The topic of interest:

We are interested in exploring how The Great Star Theater supports various communities among Chinese immigrants and helped them find a sense of belonging in a foreign country across different historical periods.

Research strategies: 

The potential research strategies we can employ to explore the history of The Great Star Theater include visiting the theater in person and talking to the staff to learn more about its history, researching primary sources including movie posters and featured films in the East Asian Library, and exploring secondary sources about the theater such as scholarly articles and online databases.