East Asian Studies 214 - KOREAN FILM AND CULTURE

Topics course. We will study Korean films to think about expressions of and con-temporary uses of emotion. We will consider how these cinematic texts serve as a site for theorizing and historicizing emotion in modern Korea. In particular, we will explore the most extreme, but also the most basic, human emotions such as fear, pain, love, and sadness.In addition, we will ask how Korean films produce versions of emotional life that address various aspects of Korean history, class, gender, sexuality, and culture. Films will be supplemented with theory, history, and popular culture texts and draw on writings by both Eastern and Western thinkers such as Confucius, Yi Sang, Foucault, and Sartre.

Topic: Extreme Emotions.