Critical Social Thought 249CY - Topics in English: 'Cyberpunk in Asia'

In popular movies such as Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, cyberpunk dystopias have often been associated with Asian cities, neon signs, and crowded bustling streets. What can exploring past and current portrayals of a cyberpunk future tell us about how we view Asia now? What can this aesthetic tell us about corporate dystopias? This course will look at film and texts that interrogate the intersection of race, technology, history, nation, and capital flows. We will read novels such as Pattern Recognition, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, view films such as Blade Runner, and view anime such as Howl's Moving Castle to learn about how historical and economic forces have shaped the way the future is imagined, and why the place of that reckoning resonates with Asia today.

Course limited to sophomores, juniors and seniors