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ISC 283A: Korean Cinema and Visual Culture (6 Weeks) Darcy Paquet 10

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ISC 283A: Korean Cinema and Visual Culture (6 Weeks) Darcy Paquet 10 ISC 283A: Korean Cinema and Visual Culture (6 weeks) Darcy Paquet 10:50am-12:30pm, KU International Summer Campus 2017 This course will provide a broad background to classic and contemporary Korean cinema from a variety of perspectives: cultural, economic, political, historical, social. Topics to be considered will include: how the major political and social changes that have taken place in Korea in recent decades have been reflected in local films; transformations in the structure of the Korean film industry over the past 15 years; Korean cinema's increasing participation in cultural trends in Asia and the broader world; the changing relationship between the local film industry and the Korean government; major internationally-renowned directors and their individual styles; and the development of certain genres within Korean cinema. Week 1 Jun 27 Introduction, colonial era filmmaking, Sweet Dream 28 1950s cinema, Madame Freedom 29 Films of the April 19 revolution, Obaltan Required reading: * Michael Robinson, "Contemporary Cultural Production in South Korea." (course reader) Additional reading: * Chonghwa Chung, “Negotiating Colonial Korean Cinema in the Japanese Empire: From the Silent Era to the Talkies, 1923–1939.” http://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/e- journal/articles/chung_0.pdf * Earl Jackson Jr., “The Subject of Representation in Korean Cinema: Two Limit Cases.” http://www.jmionline.org/articles/2008/The_Subject_of_Repre.pdf Week 2 Jul 3 Kim Ki-young 4 1960s cinema 5 1970s cinema, Night Journey and March of Fools 6 The Korean New Wave, Chilsu and Mansu film: The Housemaid (하녀, 1960, 111min), dir. Kim Ki-young Required reading: * New Korean Cinema: Introduction/ Chapter 1 * Excerpt on mise-en-scene from A Short Guide to Writing About Film. (course reader) Additional reading: * “Korean New Wave” at the Google Cultural Institute (Korean Film Archive): http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/exhibit/korean-new-wave/wQzbiZh6 * “Director Shin Sang-ok” at the Google Cultural Institute (Korean Film Archive): https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/exhibit/a-life-more-movie-like-than-a-movie-film-director-shin-sang- ok/wQyurtEV Suggested viewing: The Coachman (마부, 1961): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqqB0HUFmUU 1 Week 3 Jul 10 Im Kwon-taek 11 The 1990s, review for midterm 12 Midterm exam 13 The beginnings of “New Korean Cinema” film: Gilsotteum (길소뜸, 1986, 105min), dir. Im Kwon-taek Required reading: * New Korean Cinema: Chapter 2 * Saito Ayako, “Note on Im Kwon-taek.” (course reader) Additional reading: * “Korean Anti-Communist Films During the Cold War” at the Google Cultural Institute (Korean Film Archive): https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/exhibit/korean-anti-communist-films-during-the-cold- war/wQwcpMQD Week 4 Jul 17 Korean blockbusters 18 Park Chan-wook 19 Bong Joon-ho, Kim Jee-woon 20 Women filmmakers film: Memories of Murder (살인의 추억, 2003, 127 min), dir. Bong Joon-ho Required reading: * Jinhee Choi, “Not Just Metteurs-en-Scene?” (course reader) * New Korean Cinema: Chapter 3 Additional reading: * Brian Yecies, “Parleying Culture Against Trade: Hollywood’s Affairs With Korea’s Screen Quotas,” 2007. http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1119&context=artspapers Week 5 Jul 24 Documentaries 25 Lee Chang-dong, Kim Ki-duk 26 Hong Sangsoo 27 Independent films, short films film: HaHaHa (하하하, 2010, 115min), Hong Sangsoo Required reading: * David Bordwell, "Beyond Asian Minimalism: Hong Sangsoo's Geometry Lesson." (course reader) Additional reading: * Steve Choe, “Kim Ki-duk’s Aporia: The Face and Hospitality (on 3-Iron),” 2010. http://www.screeningthepast.com/2012/08/kim-ki-duk%E2%80%99s-aporia-the-face-and-hospitality-on-3-iron/ * Heinz Insu Fenkl, “On the Narratography of Lee Chang-dong: A Long Translator’s Note,” 2007. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/azalea/v001/1.fenkl.pdf Week 6 Jul 31 Korean melodrama Aug 1 The horror genre in Korea 2 Final exam 3 Last class 2 Required reading: * New Korean Cinema: Chapter 4 and Conclusion --------- Each class will last approximately 100 minutes, and will include lectures, film viewing and student discussion. Four feature films will be shown in their entirety, in addition to selected scenes from other important works. All films will be screened with English subtitles. Required Texts (2) * New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves by Darcy Paquet (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010). The easiest and cheapest way to buy the textbook is to download the e-book through the Kindle, Nook or iTunes stores. Or you can buy a paperback copy on your own, before the start of the class. I also may have some paperback copies which I can sell to students in class for 20,000 won. * Course Reader: More information about acquiring the course reader will be provided in class. - Excerpt on mise-en-scene from Timothy J. Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007), 48-57. - Michael Robinson, "Contemporary Cultural Production in South Korea," in New Korean Cinema, eds Chi-Yun Shin and Julian Stringer (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 15-31. - Saito Ayako, “Note on Im Kwon-taek,” in Fly High, Run Far: The Making of Korean Master Im Kwon-taek (Busan: Busan International Film Festival, 2013), 91-107. -Jinhee Choi, “Not Just Metteurs-en-Scene?” in The South Korean Film Renaissance: Local Hitmakers, Global Provocateurs (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2010), 144-163. -David Bordwell, "Beyond Asian Minimalism: Hong Sangsoo's Geometry Lesson," in Korean Film Directors Series: Hong Sang-soo, ed. Huh Moonyung (Seoul: Korean Film Council, 2007), 19-30. Grades Midterm exam: 35% Final exam: 35% Scene analysis (mise-en-scene): 20% Comments on two films seen in class: 10% * Students must also attend at least 70% of the classes in order to receive a passing grade. Exams will consist of short answer, long answer, and multiple choice questions, and will be based on the readings and the material presented in class. The final exam is not comprehensive; it will cover only the second half of the course. 3 Recommended reading and viewing -- In May 2012, the Korean Film Archive launched a YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/koreanfilm with 100+ subtitled classic films that you can watch for free (click on the ‘cc’ button to get the subtitles). The Korean Film Archive’s building in the Digital Media City (Sangam-dong), Seoul is also a great place to visit, with a film museum, a cinematheque, and a multimedia library where you can watch many films. Their website is at http://www.koreafilm.org -- If you would like to learn more about film studies and the aesthetics of cinema, I can recommend the following two books as a starting point (although there are many other options): * Film Art: An Introduction by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson is a classic introductory text in film studies, that is strongly focused on aesthetics. * Film: A Critical Introduction by Maria T. Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis teaches students how to analyze and critique films, in addition to providing an introduction to aesthetics. 4 .
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