Topics in Asian popular culture. Analysis of historical and contemporary issues addressed in popular media focused on a specific Asian country, such as 1990s Hong Kong cinema, fifth generation Chinese films, films of China and Taiwan, Japanese and Korean anime, South Asian and Bollywood cinema, and South Korean film and television drama. Course topics will vary with the expertise of the particular instructor.

This course will examine the global dissemination and popularity of Korean pop music, drama and films — a phenomenon known as ‘Hallyu' or the Korean wave. It will examine the local social, cultural and political conditions which helped to produce popular Korean cultural content, while considering how capitalism, globalization and digital technologies have helped to shape and distribute these cultural texts. We will then consider global audiences’ engagement with Hallyu. How are Korea and Koreans presented in these cultural products? What are foreign audiences learning about Korea in consuming this content? How has the Korean government utilized pop culture to export a favorable image of Korea to the world, thereby potentially increasing its ‘soft power’? Using examples from Korean dramas, K-pop music videos and film, as well as drawing on scholarly works which have examined these texts, we will examine portrayals of Korean life and relationships and the gendered and political meanings embedded in them.

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills