This module examines Asian Cinema in terms of the relation between the self and other, considering the tension between transgression and conformity in both national and global contexts.

The aim of this course is to both introduce students to work which possesses an asymmetrical relationship with Hollywood and European models, while also placing East Asian Cinema within a historical and cultural context.

Having studied this module students will

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC

•         Understand the different historical and cultural contexts of Asian Cinema production

•         Be able to articulate and critique the stylistic differences between diverse forms of Asian Cinema

•         Understand the questions of film language and style which are raised by these films

•         Strengthen and refine their critical awareness of film form

GENERAL

•         Be able to present an introduction to a screening of an Asian film.

•         Be able to lead and take part in a debate about an Asian film presentation

•         Be able to analysis in depth a cultural product that derives from a context that is partly or wholly situated in an Asian culture.

A number of films have been selected which forefront the relationship between individual and collective in the midst of vast historical and social change. The chosen films also raise central questions about the development of form. These films reflect not only the society in which they produce but also film history itself - the issue of what cinema is and what can film do. We will address this through discussion of individual films in conjunction with close reading of secondary literature.

The module is designed to provide examples of both popular and more auteur orientated filmmaking.

The films discussed will include, but are not limited to the following:

Kenji Mizoguchi (1953) Ugetsu

Mikio Naruse (1960) When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Mikio Naruse (1964) Yearning

Kinji Fukusaku (1973) Battle Without Honour and Humanity

Kinji Fukasaku (2000) Battle Royale

Chan Park Woo (2003) Old Boy

Kim Ki Duk (2004) Samaritan Girl

Li Yang (2003) Blind Shaft

Jia Zhangke (2004) The World

Jia Zhangke (2008) 24 City

The module will involve film screenings introduced by the participants and seminars led by the tutor in which students will discuss readings set as well as textual readings of the films. Students will research and write an essay on a director or more general topic studied in seminars with guidance from the tutor.

David Carter (2007) East Asian Cinema. Kamera Books.

Anne Tereska Ciecko (2006) Conteporary Asian cinema: popular culture in a global frame. Berg Publishers.

Paul Duncan and Stuart (2009) Galbraith Japanese Cinema. Taschen GmbH

Leon Hunt and Wing-Fai Leung (2008) East Asian Cinemas: Exploring Transnational Connections on Film. I.B.Tauris.

Huangjin Lee (2001) Contemporary Korean Cinema: Culture, Identity and Politics. Manchester University Press.

Darcy Parquet New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves. Wallflower Press.

Catherine Russell (2008) The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity Duke University Press

Julian Stringer (ed) (2005) New Korean Cinema. Edinburgh University Press.

Tom Vick East Asian (2008) Asian Cinema: A Field Guide. HarperCollins.