ATS3539 - Asian cinema and television - 2018

From kung fu and martial arts cinema to internationally-award winning art films, Asian cinema has attracted popular and critical attention from audiences around the world. This unit will provide methods and frameworks for exploring the unique films and television being produced from Asia, beginning with an outline of national industries and contexts and moving to a discussion of regional and international audiences for Asian film and television. Specific attention will be paid to transnational Chinese cinemas (from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong) - both in their popular and art forms - and to the cinemas of South East Asia. The unit will also consider more recent pan-Asian productions and diasporic cinemas including Asian Australian cinema. An analysis of television dramas and reality TV formats in Asia will allow us to consider changing audience tastes and consumption practices.

Upon successful completion of the subject students will be able to demonstrate:

1. An ability to discuss particular examples of Asian Cinema and Television texts in ways that show some understanding of generic considerations, cultural differences and historical specificity;
2. A general theoretical awareness of the problematic of cross cultural readings;
3. Some understanding of how cinema has developed across national and transnational film industries in different parts of the world.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Film and screen studies

Screen