JAPANESE CINEMA

​Course Description: This course will serve as an introduction to the history of Japanese cinema focusing on issues including the relation between the tradition-modernity or Japan-West in the development of Japanese cinema, the influence of Japanese films on the theory and practice of cinema abroad, and the ways in which cinema has served as a reflection of and an active agent in the transformation of Japanese society.

Course Objectives: Students will explore a variety of filmmaking styles, genres, and approaches in relation to historical, political, and cultural trends from the origins of cinema to the present in Japan. Films screened will include prestigious work by the “old masters” commonly associated with Japanese cinema in the West (Mizoguchi, Ozu, Kurosawa), in addition to technological watersheds for the industry (such as Japan’s first synchronous sound film, and Japan’s first feature film in color), as well as a variety of popular genres and styles that were important to the industry in Japan.

Required Book:

• Yomota Inuhiko—What is Japanese Cinema?: A History (translated by Phil Kaffen)

All other readings will be on the sakai site.

Complete syllabus available upon request.