| Part IB | Option |
Course Description 2024-25
This course explores various forms of East Asian media and popular culture such as cinema, TV dramas, digital games, music videos, and internet culture. Not only have media become a ubiquitous and all-encompassing element of the contemporary human condition, but the media produced in East Asian countries including China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have come to play a significant role in the global economy and popular culture worldwide. Through various case studies, we will delve into topics including modernity and postmodernity, neoliberalism and consumerism, leisure culture, gender and sexuality, fandom, alternative knowledge regimes, power and control, the politics of memory and representation, the creative industries and user-created content, nationhood, as well as voices beyond the nation. As part of this course, students will be asked to engage with a variety of East Asian media products and environments and integrate relevant scholarship into their class-based discussions and supervision work.
The course will be taught in weekly sessions for a total of 16 weeks (8 each in Michaelmas & Lent terms) as well as 4 supervisions. Sessions will comprise participatory lectures and seminars, with some content provided in a pre-recorded form. Students may be asked on occasion to lead seminars and make presentations based on the weekly readings that should stimulate discussions about the films viewed and issues that they raise. Each student will also write a minimum of two essays each term. Feedback on these will be given in supervisions or in group discussions.
Form and Conduct
The assessment will consist of both an examination (50%) and coursework (50%). The examination, to take place in Easter term, will be a two-hour in-person written exam. The coursework consists of a research essay of a maximum of 2500 words, including footnotes and excluding bibliography, due by the Division of Easter Term.
This paper will only run with a minimum number of 4 students from each Department.
This description is subject to change, for the latest information, students should consult the Undergraduate Handbook available on the Faculty Intranet.