Asian Languages & Civilization 234 - Japan on Screen

Spring
2013
01
4.00
Timothy Van Compernolle

TTH 02:30PM-03:50PM

Amherst College
ASLC-234-01-1213S
FAYE 117
tvancompernolle@amherst.edu
ASLC-234-01,FAMS-320-01

(Offered as ASLC 234 [J] and FAMS 320.)  Is the concept of national cinema useful in the age of globalization?  Given the international nature of cinema at its inception, was it ever a valid concept?  In this course, we will consider how the nation is represented on screen as we survey the history of film culture in Japan, from the very first film footage shot in the country in 1897, through the golden age of studio cinema in the 1950s, to important independent filmmakers working today. While testing different theories of national, local, and world cinema, we will investigate the Japanese film as a narrative art, as a formal construct, and as a participant in larger aesthetic and social contexts.  This course includes the major genres of Japanese film and influential schools and movements.  Students will also learn and get extensive practice using the vocabulary of the discipline of film studies.  This course assumes no prior knowledge of Japan or Japanese, and all films have English subtitles.

Limited to 20 students. Spring semester.  Professor Van Compernolle.

Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.