National Cinema in Focus: Korean Cinema

Module description

National Cinema in Focus examines the specificity of a national or local cinema within particular sociopolitical, industrial and aesthetic contexts and/or periods. Its focus will vary each year across different national cinemas (including but not limited to British Cinema, Italian Cinema, Indian Cinema, Iranian Cinema, Korean Cinema or Spanish Cinema) and/or re-framings of the nation, such as nation and empire, nation and its borders, or national cinemas in transnational/comparative contexts.

South Korean culture has boasted its popularity both within the East Asian region and across the globe as of late. Since the so-called South Korean film renaissance of the 1990s-2000s until the recent global Netflix hits, the Korean film industry has been showcasing its versatility through its adapting to the changes of state policies and the global film industry and transforming of popular genre conventions. This module will have a close look at the post-war Korean cinema since the 1950s to the present, in particular: (1) Film, Fashion and Urban Space; (2) Popular genre (horror); and (3) History, Trauma and Gender.

Korean Cinema aims to provide students with critical perspectives on Korean cinema with a focus on its film industry, aesthetics, and reception. Instead of offering a chronological overview of Korean cinema, films will be clustered via their shared topics and themes. For instance, coupled with a contemporary exorcism film, The Priests (2015), and an indie film, Microhabitat (2017), classical Korean cinema of its golden era (1950s-60s), including Madame Freedom (1956) and The Housemaid (1960), will be discussed in the light of their representation of urban space and gender. The module further examines various ways in which the contemporary Korean history—its colonial or military dictatorship era and subsequent democratization process—is re-imagined in the film medium.

Assessment details

• Participation by entering discussion questions through KEATS (10%)
• On-line test 24 hours (30%)
• Essay 2000 words (60%)

Module description disclaimer

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