Course Details

This course will be an introduction to modern Japan through its cinema, in which we will use a wide variety of twentieth-century films to discuss a wide variety of topics. Not only will we be viewing films in a variety of genres — documentary, drama, comedy, science fiction, historical, supernatural, avant-garde, and animation — we will also be discussing topics ranging from the nature of art to the moral questions of nuclear modernity. Although our discussions will be sensitive to the specific nature of film as an expressive medium, we will consider the topics of art, history, society, war, propaganda, tradition, discrimination, social justice, and morality.