JK19002 Research 1~3-Seminar (VMC)(Lecture)
| Numbering Code | U-LET36 3JK19 LE36 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ Second semester |
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| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | special lecture |
| Target Year | Target Student | ||
| Language | English | Day/Period | Tue.4・5 |
| Instructor name | Ｍｉｔｓｕｙｏ Ｗａｄａ－Ｍａｒｃｉａｎｏ (Graduate School of Letters Professor) | ||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course |
This course examines contemporary East Asian cinemas’ transnational current at various levels of industry, genre, filmic style, and global commodification. Despite Hollywood cinema’s historical dominance of the global cinema market, the ways in which cinema is disseminated have never been monolithic. Such cultural traffic has occurred through negotiations among locales, regions, and nations, across Asian countries, including Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea, and with Hollywood as well. This 2-month intensive course, cosponsered with Transcultural Cinema Forum, scrutinizes the dynamic between the global and the local by focusing on those East Asian cinemas’ strategies towards globalization and regionalization. The course has been constructed in multiple sections, investigating transcultural aspects in cinema with specific topics, such as “Children of the World (1940): Jewish Filmmakers in Exile in Occupied Shanghai, 1939-1945,” “When Currents Collide: Chinese Independent Cinema and Japan.” This course is designed for all students who are interested in screen culture in Asia. Attending lectures, which will be held on Tuesdays in class, is mandatory in order to discuss both films and reading assignments during our class. Due to the Covid-19, guest speakers reside outside Japan might need to participate via zoom (the zoom information will be provided later). |
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| Course Goals |
This class will give students the tools to map the current state of East Asian cinema and “transculturality” conformed among them, and to develop their original, compelling ideas on those films. All students will strengthen their ability to communicate clearly and make persuasive arguments orally and in writing. We will discuss various films from the PRC, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, and students will be assigned to see films outside a classroom due to the limitation of class hours. By the end of this course, students are expected to be able to: ・draw on concepts from Film Studies to analyze a film’s narrative and form, not just its content ・expand knowledge of issues in Asian and transnational cinemas, and apply critical frameworks, film theories, and historiographical approaches ・make original arguments and support them with evidence and a logical chain of reasoning ・communicate their ideas clearly in writing, discussions, and oral presentations |
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| Schedule and Contents |
Week 1-2 Introduction Week 3-4 Guest Lecturer: Filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda Talk Title: “The Power of Observation: How and Why I Make ‘Observational’ Documentaries” Screening: Peace (2010, dir. Kazuhiro Soda, 95 min.) Reading Assignments: TBA Week 5-6: Guest Lecturer: Dr. Tamako Akiyama (Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at Department of Chinese, Kanagawa University) Talk Title: “When Currents Collide: Chinese Independent Cinema and Japan” Screening: TBA Reading Assignments: TBA Week 7-8 Guest Lecturer: Filmmaker Thomas Ash Talk Title: On Uhsiku Screening: Ushiku (2021, dir. Thomas Ash, 87 min.) The Ushiku deportation prison near Tokyo mainly holds people seeking refuge in Japan. Using a hidden camera, award-winning filmmaker Thomas Ash interviewed inmates there from late 2019. His film publicly accuses Japan’s uncompromising refugee policy through one of the country’s biggest human rights scandals. Ushiku has been making international headlines for years. Reading Assignments: • Mark Schilling, “Detained but not silent: Stories from inside Japan’s immigration Centers,” The Japan Times (June 11, 2021). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jc9BzBsM2yDbtBdFUJYdAWdNDwwrbOHw/view • Yukina Kin, “Horrible ‘hospitality’: Detainees talk about reality of Japan immigration facility in film,” The Mainichi (July 2, 2021). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y1NjjXHfEQFjll6MOr40N7HZf10DvyiC/view • Toshikuni Doi, “Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Review #6 Ushiku” (October 15, 2021). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PEGVxOjOSKmXFeDAQps45XdpXcz_7jmw/view Week 9-10 Guest Lecturer: Dr. Roland Domenig (Associate Professor, Department of Art Studies, Meiji Gakuin University) Talk Title: “Children of the World (1940): Jewish Filmmakers in Exile in Occupied Shanghai, 1939-1945” Screening: Children of the World ( 『世界儿女』, 1940, dirs. Louise & Jakob Fleck, 90 min.) Reading Assignments: TBA Week 11-12 Guest Lecturer: Filmmaker Kaori Oda Talk Title: “Film to Understand and Be Understood” Screening: Thus A Noise Speaks (2012, dir. Kaori Oda, 38 min.) Cenote (2019, dir. Kaori Oda, 75 min.) Reading Assignments: TBA Week 13-14 Guest Lectuler: Dr. Yoshikuni Igarashi (Professor of History, Vanderbilt University Visiting Research Scholar, International Center for Japanese Studies) Talk Title: “Circular Vision: The Metavisuality of Television” Outline: In this talk, I will gauge television’s underestimated socioeconomic effects on Japanese society by revisiting the early years of its introduction, when it was still a newsworthy event. The dramatic transformation that Japan experienced under the high-growth economy (1955-1972) was not only political, social, economic, and cultural but also intensely visual. Television was instrumental to how individuals came to see themselves and their nation during this period. Through television, individuals became deeply embedded in a newly emerging national space: their everyday lives viewed as part of an unfolding national drama. This new media provided viewers an expansive vision even as it taught them to internalize its conforming gaze. Screening: Good Morning (Ohayo, 1959, dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 94min.) Reading Assignments: TBA Week 15 Students' presentations on their final papers. Final essay due, December 6th (Tuesday) by noon. |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy |
1. Attendance + Participation 20% 2. Essay Assignment 20% Write a short paper analyzing one of the reading assignments. Your paper should be comprised of two sections: (1) summarize your chosen material and indicate what idea(s) that you like in the reading material and (2) point out problem(s) of the material, i.e. criticism. You will submit your assignment on Novembver 1st (Tuesday), in class. 3 page in length is maximum (1.5 space; font 11). No late assignments will be accepted. 3. Presentation on your final essay topic 20% The total length of your presentation is about 20 minutes. Please come up with a one-page outline of your presentation, make copies of it and provide them to all classmates + me in class. Evaluations of presentations are based on the following aspects: (1) level of thesis (focused, connected with any specific discourse related with our discussions in class, etc.) (2) adequate supports (quality of research on the topic, awareness of the existing literature, etc.) (3) organization of presentation 4. Final Essay 40% You will write your final essay based on your presentation. 15 pages in length is maximum (1.5 space; font 11), and its due date is on December 6th (Tuesday) by noon. Print out and submit your essay via email. No late papers will be accepted. |
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| Course Requirements | None | ||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) | The participants are expected to complete all reading materials before they come to our class. Each week, all students will have to view an assigned film prior to coming to class. The logistic will be explained in the introduction. | ||
