Seminar in Film and Media Studies

Catalog description

Topics vary by semester. Spring 2026: East Asian Film - This course will examine cultural change in East Asia since the end of the Second World War as seen through the prism of film. In a globalized world the standards of cultural exchange have sometimes led to a process of encroachment and the subversion of a native culture. As one of the most visible of cultural products, however, film clearly demonstrates that this is frequently not the case. There is a complex interplay between pressures to globalize and the traditional concerns and norms of societies. An examination of the discourse and rhetoric of filmed texts provides evidence of cultures working to maintain their identity, adapting new modes of expression to their own ends and actively exporting their own cultural ideas through the medium of cinema. To illustrate this point, we will closely examine the cinematic output of a variety of national film industries, including those of Japan, China and Korea from the mid-1940's to the present day. At the conclusion of this course students will have a basic knowledge of film output in the selected regions, be aware of the aesthetic traditions, stylistic tendencies and rhetoric of those films, and have an understanding of issues of cultural exchange as reflected in East Asian film. Prerequisites: 76-101 or 76-102 or ( 76-107 and 76-106 ) or ( 76-106 and 76-108 ) or ( 76-107 and 76-108 )