Postgraduate Course: Contemporary Japanese Cinema (ASST11057)

Course Outline
School	School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	This course will explore Japanese contemporary film in the context of socio-political change since the bursting of the 1980s economic bubble. Attention will be paid to locating cinema within the debate on the many social issues to have emerged since 1989, including but not limited to: Japanese national identity, migration and multiculturalism, economic restructuring, tradition and aesthetics, consumption and the virtual, minorities and youth culture. Therefore, as well as developing a critical appreciation of contemporary Japanese cinema, the course acts as an approach to thinking about more general issues facing Japanese contemporary society. As such, students will be expected to draw upon the wide literature in English on both Japanese cinema and contemporary Japanese society, and demonstrate this knowledge through discussion, debate, presentations and written work.
Course description	The student numbers for this course are capped at 25 (UG and PG combined). Priority will be given to intending Japanese honours students, students on the MSc Japanese Society and Culture and students from Film Studies.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered

Learning Outcomes
Students who have completed this course successfully will have: o Watched, analysed and discussed a range of key films representative of contemporary Japanese cinema o Reviewed theoretical approaches to reading and interpreting film o Acquired knowledge of social issues in contemporary Japanese society o Presented a critical reading of one or more films that deal with a particular social theme in Japan o Produced rigorously researched and theoretically informed written work in the form of a 4,000 word essay Students who have completed this course successfully will be able to: o Critically analyse contemporary Japanese Cinema and apply this knowledge elsewhere o Identify key directors, their works and stylistic approach o Identify themes in contemporary Japanese cinema and relate them to 'real world' social issues. o Critically integrate contemporary Japanese film into discourses on the post-modern / late modern condition. o Apply different theoretical perspectives to reading Japanese film o Engage in informed debate over major issues in contemporary Japanese society