106-217 Asian Screen Cultures

Students who have completed 106-014 Hong Kong Cinema are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually fifty points of first year arts including at least 25 points from a specified list of cultural studies approved subject areas, or first year Asian studies

This subject focuses on contemporary Asian screen cultures 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 screen 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 cultures that understand these cultures as formed through transnational flows rather than as the product of discrete and bounded 'civilizations' as in traditional area studies approaches. On completion of this subject students should have an understanding of the transnationalism of Asian screen cultures today, knowledge of some of the key recent movements in Asian screen cultures (especially film), an appreciation of the historical contexts that underlie these patterns, and a sound grasp of the major scholarly approaches used to analyse these phenomena.

• acquire skills in the following areas: social, ethical, and cultural understanding of self and others through detailed analysis of contemporary culture in its various local, national and transnational contexts; the reception of new ideas and the contextualisation of judgments; the adaptation of knowledge to new situations.

• critical analysis and synthesis through the study of competing theories of contemporary culture and their application to diverse examples; the engagement with and processing of different critical perspectives across the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies; the development of independent thought and arguments.

• effective written and oral communication through seminar discussions and debates; the preparation and execution of written assessment exercises; exposure to and emulation of competing genres and protocols of critical writing

• information management and information literacy through the practice of library and archival research and engagement with electronic databases

• teamwork, flexibility, and tolerance through group discussions in seminars; reception of new ideas and opinions; engaging and cooperating with other people from diverse backgrounds

• time management and planning through managing and organizing workloads for recommended reading, seminar presentations, and assessment requirements

An essay of 1500 words 40% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 60% (due at the end of the semester). All students are required to submit the two pieces of written work and must have attended at least 80% of tutorials (10 out of 12 tutorials) to be eligible for assessment.

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.