Asian Cinema and Media

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total expected time commitment is 170 hours across the semester, including class time.

None

None

None

106-245 Global Screen Cultures; CULS20009 Global Screen Cultures; CULS30002 Global Screen Cultures

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject focuses on contemporary Asian cinema and media with a special emphasis on their transnational aspects. Students will encounter examples mainly from cinema (both popular and 'art' film), but the subject also engages with other forms of media culture like television, computer games, music video and Internet cultures. These texts will be approached through analysis of the contexts of their production, distribution, and consumption as well as through textual analysis. Students will learn about new approaches to contemporary Asian cinema and media that understand these cultures as formed through transnational flows rather than as the product of discrete and bounded 'civilisations' as in traditional area studies approaches. On completion of this subject students should have an understanding of the transnationalism of Asian cinema and media today, knowledge of some of the key recent movements in Asian film and media, an appreciation of the historical contexts that underlie these patterns, and a sound grasp of the major scholarly approaches used to analyse these phenomena. Students completing the subject will be familiar with case studies including those from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and India.

On completion of the subject students should have:

• a detailed critical knowledge of Asian cinema and media as they relate to their specific histories, industries and cultures;
  
• an advanced understanding of the theoretical concept of alternative Asian modernity as shaped by the different conditions of colonisation, socialism, postcolonialism, industrialisation, indigenisation, regionalism and global capitalism;
• a high level comprehension of cultural forms such as postcolonial cinema, transnational action, martial arts, melodrama, Asian blockbuster and the art house film as they relate to different places and modernities in the Asian region;
• a well-developed ability to engage international and national debates in Asian cinema and media studies, and contextualize this in relation to the central concepts and principles of the discipline, as well as the wider community;
• mastered the critical skills and methods of Asian cinema and media, and apply its major critical approaches in their own work;
• a sophisticated understanding of the research practices and principles related to Screen and Cultural Studies, while also recognizing the value of interdisciplinarity.

A 1400 word essay 35% (due mid-semester), a 1400 word esay 35% (due in the examination period), a multimedia exercise (blog/wiki) equivalent to 1200 words 30% (done throughout the semester). This subject has a minimum hurdle attendance requirement of 80%, regular participation in tutorials is required. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

A Subject Reader will be available.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Students who successfully complete this subject should:

• have advanced research and analytic skills;

• show critical and ethical self-awareness;

• have the ability to develop and communicate effective argument in both oral and written form.

This subject is available to pre-2008 Bachelor of Arts students for credit into 2nd or 3rd year of the major in Cinema or Cultural Studies