Korean Cinema

Catalog description

This course offers a broad survey of post-1945 South Korean cinema from Golden Age classics of the 1950s and 1960s to the rise of new blockbuster hits and art-house films throughout the contemporary period. Week-to-week we will examine cinematic texts within various historical, sociopolitical, and cultural contexts of postcolonial South Korea, paying particular attention to the issues of national division, civil war, U.S. neocolonialism, military dictatorships, the democratic minjung movement, the 1997 IMF Crisis, the deregulation/conglomeration of the film industry, and globalization. We will investigate not only the major genres of this unique national cinema (melodrama, family drama, comedy, satire, youth film, social problem films, sci-fi, horror, crime thriller, etc.), but also the increased recognition throughout the world of such renowned Korean auteurs as Lee Chang-dong, Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, and Hwang Dong-hyuk. The final weeks will also be devoted to the study of the “Korean Wave” (global popularity of Korean popular culture in the new millennium) and representative texts associated with the phenomenon (such as Oldboy, Parasite, and Squid Game).  This course is the same as