How Does It Move? Action and Moving Image in Modern Japan
Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. How is action constituted on the screen? How has modern technological media informed and transformed our experience and understanding of action? Exploration of how our experience and conception of action is mediated by technological aesthetic media by tracing history of portrayal and experience of action both in media theory and practice. Emphasis on moving image practices surrounding production and reception of popular action film genres from Japan such as chambara or samurai film and yakuza film. Consideration also of their relationship to international film cultures and genres (e.g. Hollywood Western, gangster film, Chinese martial arts cinema, and contemporary Hollywood blockbusters) in context of broader historical transformations in media practices and in modes of distribution and reception. Study of theoretical debates, institutional practices, and ethical and political questions that inform our inquiries into moving image as action, and into action as/through moving image. P/NP or letter grading.
Review Summary
- Clarity
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10.0 / 10
- Organization
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10.0 / 10
- Time
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0-5 hrs/week
- Overall
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10.0 / 10
Reviews
super great and easy class and professor Yamazaki is super nice and the TAs are super helpful as well :)
Professor Yamazaki was a great professor and well organized when teaching the class. There were lots of extra credit opportunities and the workload wasn't too much. While there are required readings, they weren't too heavy as most of the time spent per week involved watching the film and writing a discussion post.
class was pretty straightforward with lots of EC offered and interesting movies
Lectures for this class were dry, hard to follow and monotone, and felt like a single run-on sentence. The professor barely used any slides. Online quizzes are given to check attendance, so I recommend attending but it's a good time to do other work. You will not need lecture content for anything other than the attendance quizzes, delivered randomly throughout the quarter. In addition to these, you will be graded on discussion attendance and participation, weekly discussion posts about course readings + the weekly assigned movie, as well as a final paper. There are tons of extra credit opportunities (7% total in Spring 2023), so it's not difficult to get a good grade even without being too invested in the material.
As for the films, they included gore, sexual violence, propaganda, and period films; most were not fun to watch but it was a good overview of Japanese cinema.
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Course
Grading Information
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Has a group project
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Attendance not required
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No midterms
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Finals week final
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25% recommend the textbook