Visual East Asia. Chinese and South Korean cinema from a Transnational Perspective

This course is part of the "Visual Asia" Minor that will guide students through a variety of communication forms and artistic expressions in some of the Asian and Mediterranean Africa regions, in order to compose a geocultural puzzle that, also drawing from local traditions and realities, it can illustrate the transformations of these areas and the interaction with global society. Art, cinema and the internet are not only the mirror of complex cultural systems and a window on ancient civilizations in continuous evolution, but also channels through which they become protagonists on the contemporary world stage in both political and economic terms.

The aim of the course - included in the interdisciplinary Minor which complements the regular Degree (Laurea) - is to provide students of various disciplinary backgrounds with basic knowledge and tools to understand communication strategies and figurative and visual languages used in contemporary Chinese-speaking territories and South Korea. Such strategies should be understood both for self representation and within a transnational framework, that is to relate to an ever changing global scenario as well as to world cultural industries.

No prerequisite is required.

The course aims to offer students some theoretical perspectives for the investigation of Chinese-language cinema (People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora) and South Korean cinema within a transnational framework. Cinema is to be understood as a term that sums up the variety of forms that audiovisual production has taken over the last two decades, including contents intended for online use and all the levels in which the production of images has been differentiated. From the pan-Asian co-production projects to the micro-films intended for mobile devices, the analysis cinema makes it possible to address wider issues through the immediacy of the image. These themes include economic dynamics and cultural flows that involve film production and distribution in Asia, but also in the global market, and the transition to a global aesthetic versus those that have long been analyzed as national cinemas.
Following the most advanced international studies in the film industry in relation to political and social changes and in direct contact with audiovisual production and distribution practices, the course provides students with both historical-theoretical basis and more directly readable keys linked to cinema practices (also in the professional field), orienting them towards the three key phases articulating audiovisual industry; production, circulation and distribution.

Selected chapters from the following books:

Song Hwee Lim & Julian Ward (eds.), The Chinese Cinema Book, London: BFI, 2011.
Chua Beng Huat, Pop Culture as Soft Power. Structure, Audience and Softpower in East Asian Pop Culture, Hongkong: HK UP, 2012.

Other materials will be provided during classes and on MOODLE platform.

Oral discussion based on written essay(s) assigned during the course. The oral discussion might include course topics that are not necessarily only those included in the student's essay. The written assignments have to be submitted at least a week before the date of the exam.

- Frontal teaching and online activities.
- Students' presentations and discussion moderated by the teacher.
Frontal teaching makes use of audiovisual support in different languages with Italian and/or English subtitles.

Italian

The filmography of the course, which will be updated on the moodle platform, proposes a list of films related to the course. However, not all the films included are compulsory for the final assessment.

written