Undergraduate Course: Japanese Cyberpunk: Non-Western futuristic fantasy in popular visual genres (ASST10142)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This option course is designed to provide students with a wide-ranging knowledge of Japanese cyberpunk in contemporary visual genres such as anime and film. |
| Course description |
The course aims to create an awareness of the ways in which multi-modal forms of Japanese cyberpunk are evolved by media-mix of visual contents in the marketplace. Topics to be covered will include the relation between humanity and futuristic technology, the relationship between linguistic and multi-modal analysis, the relations between paper media and audiovisual media and interpretation, and post-apocalyptic visions of techno cityscape, race, music, and gender stereotypes. Occasional cyberpunk film viewing to be encouraged during the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
80 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1 x take-home exam essay of c. 3,000 words (70%)
1 x presentation based on primary source materials (20%)
Class participation (10%) |
| Feedback |
Verbal feedback throughout the course, based on class discussions. Also individual written feedback on presentation. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Identify main themes and issues associated with Japanese cyberpunk.
- Employ strong multimodal analysis skills to explore sociocultural, sociolinguistic, and dynamic narratives of popular visual genres across media.
- Understand the notion of multimodality and its relationship to the contemporary visual contents of science fiction, manga, anime, video game and film.
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Reading List
Auger, E. (2013). Tech-noir Film: A Theory of the Development of Popular Genres. Bristol: University of Chicago Press.
Balsamo, A. M. (1996). Technologies of the gendered body : reading cyborg women. Durham: Duke University Press.
Bolton, C. (2007). Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime. Univ Of Minnesota Press.
Chalmers, D. (n.d.). The Matrix as Metaphysics. Retrieved 18 July 2015, from http://consc.net/papers/matrix.html
Chatman, S. B. (1978). Story and discourse : narrative structure in fiction and film. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Chris Hables. Gray. (2002). Cyborg citizen : politics in the posthuman age. New York ; London: Routledge.
Donna Jeanne. Haraway. (1991). Simians, cyborgs and women : the reinvention of nature. London: Free Association.
Featherstone, M., & Burrows, R. (1995). Cyberspace/cyberbodies/cyberpunk : cultures of technological embodiment. London: Sage.
Hayles, K. (1999). How we became posthuman : virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. Chicago ; London: University of Chicago Press.
Johnson, B. D. (2011). Science Fiction for Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction. San Rafael, Calif.: Morgan & Claypool Publishers.
Joseph. Schneider. (2005). Donna Haraway : live theory. London: Continuum. Napier, S. (2001). Animé from Akira to Princess Mononoke : experiencing contemporary Japanese animation. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Napier, S. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl's moving castle : experiencing contemporary Japanese animation (Updated edition, [revised edition]..). New York ; Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sato, K. (2004). How Information Technology Has (Not) Changed Feminism and Japanism: Cyperpunk in the Japanese Context. Comparative Literature Studies, 41(3), 335-355. Silvio, C. (1999). Refiguring the Radical Cyborg in Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell", Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Mar., 1999), pp. 54-72. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/stable/pdf/4240752.pdf?acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
Seed, D. (2005). A companion to science fiction. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Pub.
Steven T. Brown. (2010). Tokyo cyberpunk : posthumanism in Japanese visual culture (First edition..). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Teppo, M., & Rambo, C. (2013). Cyberpunk: Stories of Hardware, Software, Wetware, Evolution, and Revolution. Underland Press. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Visual and critical analysis techniques
- Independent research skills
- Presentation and communication skills
- Organisation and planning skills
- Communicate with peers, senior colleagues and specialists
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| Keywords | Japanese Cyberpunk,visual genres,multimodal discourse |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Yoko Sturt
Tel: (0131 6)50 4228
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Vivien MacNish Porter
Tel: (0131 6)50 3528
Email: |
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