RLG290Y Religion and Film and Hong Kong – Critical Reflection
Assignment:
Critically reflect on something you learned in this course about religion and Hong Kong film that you found surprising or meaningful.
Deadline: You must submit your critical reflection by 11:59pm on June 28. Late assignments will receive a penalty of 1 mark per day (out of a total of 10).
Do-over: If you are interested in improving your reflection grade you may submit a second reflection, which
is due on July 7. This can be a totally new reflection, or a revised version of your first. The final grade you
receive on this assignment will be the higher of the two grades. The late penalty for the second reflection is
also 1 mark per day (out of 10).
Overview:
The goal of this assignment is for you to critically reflect on what you’ve learned in this course, which
involves thinking about your own perspectives and biases: where they may have come from, how you think
they’ve changed over time, what questions you might have about them, etc. Your reflection should be about
700-800 words in length. You are welcome to write a longer piece if you have more that you want to say, but
it’s definitely not necessary. Often the best writing is concise!
In terms of writing style, I am not expecting anything formal or “academic” for your reflection (although
spelling and grammar still count!). I want you to communicate YOUR thoughts in YOUR voice. I am
looking for how clearly you express yourself, and how much you have reflected (yes!) on your views.
You are welcome to include images in your reflection if that’s helpful (eg, screenshots from films). If you
do this, make sure to clearly identify the source of the image. If it’s from a film, just provide the movie title.
What is a reflection?
The point of reflective writing is to begin with a description of your views and responses, and then to think
about them. There is no right or wrong “answer.” What I am looking for is nothing more or less than an
honest and thoughtful appraisal of your views/responses (really!). You can then go even further, and think
about how reflecting on your views and responses may be affecting the way in which you think about
whatever it is you’re writing on.
In formulating your reflection, you must first describe what you learned, and then (surprise!) critically
reflect on it. For this assignment, here are some reflective questions to consider:
• What were the sources of your views of religion before this course?
• What did you think about religion and Hong Kong film before? Why did you think that? (In other
words, where did your previous understanding come from?)
• What did you learn in this course about religion and Hong Kong film that’s surprising or
meaningful to you in some way? Why was this surprising or meaningful to you?
• How have your views of religion in general changed as a result of what you learned?
• Can you connect what you’ve learned in this course to any other parts of your life?
• Do you trust what you learned in this course? Why/why not?
• What does your response to any of the question above tell you about the assumptions you had
beforehand about either religion in general, or religion in relation to Hong Kong films?
You don’t need to answer all these questions. But they should help you see the kinds of questions you can
ask yourself. Remember the point is to examine your own assumptions and biases. What does something you
learned about religion and Hong Kong film in this course tell you about the ways in which you think about
things in the world more generally? How will reflecting on all this impact you going forward in your life?
When offering your reflections please make sure to provide clear reasons and evidence to account for your
perspectives. In other words, it’s not enough to tell me what you think or feel – you need to explain why you
think or feel these things, or at least why you think you think or feel these things. Also: in good reflective
writing, you should be pushing yourself into uncertain territory in some respects.
Reflective example
Here is an example of reflective thinking, progressing from simple description to serious self-examination:
• Description: “On Sunday I went to the museum. I really liked the banana painting.”
• A little reflection: “Why did I like the banana painting? I believe that I liked it because yellow things
make me happy.”
• More reflection: “I’m not entirely sure why yellow things make me happy. I suspect that it might be
because the house that I grew up in was painted yellow. That was a very good time in my life, and
the color yellow reminds me of that house, and that time.”
• So much reflection! “Thinking about my reaction to the banana painting has made me aware of the
ways in which my past experiences may be affecting my present ones. This is important because I
previously thought that if I liked something it was because that thing was objectively “good.” In the
In the future, I will be more aware of the ways in which responses I have may in fact be influenced by very
subjective factors and experiences.”
Sources
Do not do any additional research for this assignment. Base your reflection only on material from the
assigned Hong Kong films and the required course texts (readings and recorded lectures)
Requirements:
• You must refer to two ideas from at least TWO required course texts in your reflection. (This means
one idea per text. They can be two similar ideas or two entirely different ideas.)
• When you refer to an idea you must provide a full quotation from the text for that idea.
• For each reference provide a citation. Citations to a written source must include the page number.
Citations to a recorded lecture must include the starting time when the quotation begins.
• Include a bibliography at the end of your reflection.
• Citations and bibliography must follow Chicago author-date format.
• You do not need to formally reference any film. You can just refer to the title. But make sure you put
all film titles in italics – eg, The Killer, The Heroic Trio, etc.
Here are examples of citing a written course text and a recorded lecture, with bibliography below:
• Lloyd Baugh states: “a filmic Christ-figure is authenticated when there is some metaphorical
representation of the Resurrection” (Baugh 1997, 210).
• Ken Derry states: “There are . . . some links between the Bible and superheroes” (Derry 2025, 4:47).
Baugh, Lloyd. 1997. Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ-Figures in Film. Sheed & Ward.
Derry, Ken. 2025. “3.2 – Prophetic Realism.” RLG290Y0 Religion and Film and Hong Kong. University
of Toronto Summer Abr