JPN 332 - AESTHETICS AND POLITICS IN JAPANESE FILM

College of Arts and Sciences

Credit(s): 3

This course examines Japanese film both as aesthetic medium and as socio-political practice and explore the dynamic transformations of post-1945 Japan. Introducing films from a variety of genres, the course encourages students to conjecture about these questions: Who produced these in what context?; What sorts of aesthetic responses and emotions do these films solicit?; How can filmmaking at once illuminate and impact Japan’s political and cultural landscape? At the heart of work for the course will be attention to the films themselves, their production and circulation. This course explores the cinematic landscapes of Japan and places them in the international contextâ€”by comparisons to Hollywood films, primarily– in the age of globalization (modernization, imperialism, colonialism, Cold War, capitalism).

Meets UK Core: Intellectual Inquiry in Humanities.
Approved for Distance Learning.