University of Edinburgh

This course explores Japanese contemporary film in the context of socio-political change since the 1980s. Attention is paid to locating cinema within the debate on the many social issues that have emerged since the 1980s, including but not limited to: Japanese national identity, the family, economic restructuring, tradition and aesthetics, consumption and the virtual, history and memory, and depictions of disaster. Therefore, as well as developing a critical appreciation of contemporary Japanese cinema, the course acts as an approach to thinking about more general issues facing Japanese society. Students are expected to draw upon the wide literature in English on both Japanese cinema and contemporary Japanese society, and demonstrate this knowledge through discussion, debate presentations, and written work.