0075 Introduction to Korea through Films

31056 Turker (Monday, 1-3:50)

1,This course will take the recent surge of success behind Korean cinema as a way to explore our object of study: Korea and the cinema. The Introduction to Korean Cinema course will explore Korean cinema in broader (and at times narrow) cultural, social, and aesthetic contexts to investigate transnational media production and circulation, globalization, consumer culture, commercialization, and construction of national, ethnic and gender identities. The ostensible purpose of the course is the provide students with the experience of Korean cinema and to develop a critical and historical consciousness of Korean visual culture. By examining a number of carefully selected films, students will explore a number of culturally diverse issues such as Korean individual and national identity, modernity, gender, culture, history through cross-cultural analysis, assessing the worth and content of the films. The course is aimed at addressing cinema both in its aesthetic specificity, as well as foregrounding these diverse issues regarding the medium, especially the conventions of realism. The class is organized as combination of lectures, screenings and discussions. Course activities include group discussions on readings and films. All reading materials are in English and all films have English subtitles. No knowledge of Korean is required.

2. There are no prerequisites for this class. All readings are in English.

3. No recitation.

4. Class size is limited to 40.

5. This course is planned to be offered every other year.