JAPAN 80
How Does It Move? Action and Moving Image in Modern Japan
Description
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.
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