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PART/JPNA311 Japanese Cinema History

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PART/JPNA311 Japanese Cinema History Course Number and Title PART/JPNA311 Japanese Cinema History Subject Area Performing Arts Class Style Lecture Year Available 2nd Year Term(s) Offered Spring Semester Prerequisites PART110 or PART150 Number of Credits 3 Instructor Darren Ashmore Course Description This PBL (Project Based Learning)* course is designed as a student led critical examination important examples of the work of Kurosawa Akira. Through lecture, discussion, debate, group work and presentation it explores the different genre of Kurosawa’s film corpus. We shall examine significant examples of his art, look at the national/global impact and consider how the Japanese perspective on the Icon has come to affect the way the whole world now looks at ‘The Samurai Director’. * Project-based learning (PBL) is involves a classroom approach which places student participation, and teaching (AKA the flipped classroom) alongside more normal lecture and discussion elements. PBL compliments paper-based and teacher-led instruction by ensuring each student has an opportunity to query or offer alternative viewpoints to the material being examined. * Class plan for this academic year based on the students' course evaluation and feedback in previous academic year As a consequence of the desire for more feedback from students, each film will be led by one of the PBL groups in the class, who will be tasked with both presenting the film as an object to the class and expanding their initial points into their PBL at the end of the course. Course Objectives Over the course of the program, student will: Develop an understanding of Kurosawa as a man. Be able communicate their own hypotheses on his styles and genres. Define the differences between Chanbara and Jidaigeki. Recognize unique and borrowed techniques that are used in Kurosawa’s films. Appreciate Kurosawa Akira as an artistic and cultural property. Understand the nature and purpose of ‘Kurosawa culture’. Students Should: Possess high communication skills in both Japanese and English. Possess Critical, Creative, Independent and Global thinking skills. Possess an inter-cultural understanding and be open-minded towards other cultures. Student Feedback Note that the course is ever in a state of evolution, and feedback is essential for its continued growth. Message to students Attendance is compulsory. A register will be taken each session 1. Each unexcused absence with reduce your overall grade by an incremental amount. 2. If a student misses 30% of the total number of classes (in this case, 5) without reason, they will automatically lose the ability to submit a final paper or research project for credit. 3. If you are to be absent for a legitimate reason (medical, family, etc.), please be sure to see me ASAP. Note that part-time work does not constitute a legitimate reason between the hours of 9am and 6pm on a week-day. 4. Pre-study and class preparation: all students in this course should be sure to fully cover any provided study materials and other work before class. Be sure to devote a enough time to this so that both class work and assignments run smoothly. Also, sleeping in class will be considered an unexcused absence. We are all busy, but dozing is disrespectful to the rest of the class. Prerequisite Any Intro courses of Japanese society or media studies. NOTE this course may not be suitable for students who have taken Japanese film and Theater, as there is some overlap. Indicative Self-learning PBL Preparation: 2 hours per week Writing across the course: 10 hours Preparation for a final presentation: 5 hours Preparation for a final exam: 10 hours Grading Criteria Student’s achievement of the stated course objectives will be measured in terms of their performance in the following areas: 1. Group PBL work 25% 2. Final Exam 35% 3. Regular Tests 25% 4. Class Engagement 15% Organization Each block will be divided into a Lecture and an open seminar session. The lecture will present the main views on each subject area and provide the students with a starting point for their own thought. The follow-up seminar will require the students to discuss and/or make presentations on their understanding of the material. All films where possible will be subtitled in English, however in some cases it may only be possible to provide English synopses and in others no language support at all. Be advised. Plagiarism policy Acts of Academic Dishonesty: In accord with University policies and good practices in higher education, acts of academic dishonesty such as plagiarism, cheating, forgery (on a paper, examination, test, or other assignment) will result in the failure of the course at a minimum. An act of academic dishonesty during the final examination or assignment in lieu of the final examination will result in failure of all courses registered in the relevant academic term. Cases of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs for relevant action. Required Materials and Textbooks As Provided Course Schedule Week 1 Introduction: Course outline, and QA. Week 2 Theme: Kurosawa, a Biography Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (a.k.a. Judo Saga). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast then-unknown actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another 15 films. Week 3 Theme: Early Works! (Film to watch Rashomon) Lecture: I will speak on the nature of perspective, and the use of the camera in the film, as well as Kurosawa’s ideas about feudality. Discussion: Who is telling the truth and why does it matter. Week 4 Kurosawa’s Inspirations! (film to be watched, Nosferatu) Lecture: Examining the rise of realism in the Horror Drama in the 1920s. We will examine how the Great War affected the way in which even ordinary people thought about their fears and how Kurosawa turned that issue to his advantage. Discussion: Heroes, Villains and the moral ambiguity of horror. Week 5 The Anti Hero! (film to be watched, Seven Samurai) Lecture: Examining the rise of realism in the Samurai Drama in the 50s. We will examine how the war shock affected the way in which even ordinary people thought about their heroes and how Kurosawa turned that issue into the, now Seven Samurai. Discussion: Heroes, Villains and the moral ambiguity of class. Week 6 Theme: Kurosawa’s Inspirations. (Film to be watched, A Matter of Life and Death) Lecture: I will speak on Powell and Pressburer and their friendship with Kurosawa in the post-war years. Discussion: Taking the audience out of the ordinary. Why should one never quite remove an audience entirely from their own World, even in fantasy? Week 7 Dodesukaden Lecture: NO lecture in Week 7, as many will have seen this film before. This time however, I want to get the class’s groups to focus on the use of colour and form in this version of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Week 8 Wild West Hero. (Film to be watched, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) Lecture: Examining the myths of the old West (as never was) and comparing the American take on chivalry in the 19th Century. Discussion: The Discovery of the Self and the Eternal Hero. Week 9 To Live (Film to be watched: Ikiru) Lecture: This lecture examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat and his final quest for meaning. The major themes of the film include learning how to live, the inefficiency of bureaucracy, and decaying family life in Japan, which have been the subject of analysis by academics and critics. Discussion: Sacrifice and Eternity. Making the mortal, Immortal. Week 10 Compassion (Film to be watched, Red Beard) Lecture: Red Beard is a 1965 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa about the relationship between a town doctor and his new trainee. The film was based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's short story collection, Akahige. Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Humiliated and Insulted provided the source for a subplot about a young girl, Otoyo (Terumi Niki), who is rescued from a brothel. Discussion: The problems of social injustice and explores two of Kurosawa's favourite topics: humanism and existentialism. Week 11 Responsibility (Film to be watchedThe Godfather). Lecture: The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy, based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel of the same name. It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the father and son of a fictional New York crime family. The story, spanning 1945 to 1955, chronicles the family under the patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando), focusing on the transformation of the son Michael Corleone (Pacino), raised to have a life outside of crime, from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss. Discussion: Power projection and Duty. Week 12 Lies and Deceit. (Film to be watched, Kagemusha) Lecture: Kagemusha is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. In Japanese, kagemusha is a term used to denote a political decoy. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying daimyō to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable clan. The daimyō is based on Takeda Shingen, and the film ends with the climactic 1575 Battle of Nagashino. Discussion: The sense of Self, subsumed by the state Week 13 Heart and Home.
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