Asian and Transpacific Cinemas

6 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)

Lecture/screenings, six hours; discussion, one hour. With focus on East and Southeast Asia, examination of how urban spaces are evoked, experienced, and produced through cinema. Rather than viewing Asia and its cinemas as static objects of analysis, study considers scholars of critical regionalism who advocate taking Asia as method (Kuan-hsing Chen), viewing Asia as an imagined space, constructed through the intersections of cultural, political, and economic trajectories. While this imaginary’s historical meaning is rooted in European imperial projects, it has also been deployed through anticolonial movements, inter-Asian coalitions, and state discourse. P/NP or letter grading.