BA Film Studies and Music

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This course will introduce students to the most influential and canonical works of Japanese animation and several related live action films that can be closely connected to the evolution of the themes of animation. Students will explore core themes developing in and through animation: nationalism, race, and the recovery of postwar identity; mutant bodies and youth under pressure; the heroic ‘shojo’ (girl), technological interface and human evolution; apocalyptic visions; and environmentalism. Each week there will be full screenings of film or animation OVA (film length versions) followed by discussion of the film in relation to readings. The course begins with the early origins of postwar animation and ‘monster film’ in the 1950s and traces its development and expansion into a major media particularly from the 1980s to the 2000s. 

Available on: Japanese Studies programme

• To provide students with an understanding of the key themes and genres of film and animation. 
• To introduce the major concepts and aspects of the 21st century historical background necessary for a fuller understanding of contemporary culture in Japan. 
• To enable students to analyse cultural problems and dynamics in contemporary Japan in an informed and critical way.
• To prepare students with skills for independent source gathering in their year abroad and for more robust essay writing skills in the final year.

Film Week 1 Godzilla [live action] (1954) + Astro Boy (1963)

Lecture 1 Monsters, ghosts, recuperating folk lore and early postwar Japan

Film Week 2 Grave of the Fireflies  

Lecture 2 War, animated propaganda, perspective and ‘ballistic vision’  

Film Week 3 Space Battleship Yamato (Uchu Senkan Yamato 1977)  

Lecture 3 Science fiction heroes and reimagining Japan  

Film Week 4 Akira 1988.  

Lecture 4 Youth and alienation and war  

Screening Week 5 Tetsuo Iron Man [live action] (1989) + Tetsuo II

Lecture 5 Mutating bodies, industry and masculinity

Film Week 7 Revolutionary Girl Utena  

Lecture 6 Girls becoming heroines  

Film Week 7 Nausicaa (1984)

Lecture 7 Cyborg heroines challenging the boundaries of Humanity

Screening Week 8 Patlabor (1989)  

Lecture 8 Otaku-ism and Animation

Screening Week 9 Perfect Blue (1997)  

Lecture 9 Postmodern war, distance, loneliness and reality  

Screening Week 11 Evangelion (1995-2012) + Voices of a Distant Star (2003)

Lectures and class discussion of the readings

Discussion of animation screened in relation to readings and lectures

Written feedback on team class presentation and mid-term essays

Oral feedback on contributions to seminars and assessment of written work

On successful completion of the course the student will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of major trends and formations of animation and contemporary culture in Japan in the context of the postwar environment;
• demonstrate critical understanding of key analytical concepts related to the study of animation and film in contemporary Japan; 
• knowledge of several key genres and cultural themes within animation and overlapping into other media and social discussion.

On successful completion of the course the student will be able to:

• engage in informed critical analysis of Japanese animation and film; 
• read and watch critically; 
• write analytically.

On successful completion of the course the student will be able to:

• construct ideas and arguments from own research and apply knowledge to finding solutions to authentic real-world problems;
• improve basic skills for academic writing, in particular reviewing academic literature;
• improve presentation skills.

On successful completion of the course the student will be able to:

• have honed their skills for reasoned presentation, discussion and argument; 
• be able to find and use critically a range of materials such as books, journals and web-based resources relevant to the topics studied in the course. Develop personal qualities of independence of mind in order to make ethical judgments;
• have honed their skills for reasoned presentation, discussion and argument.

Resit assessment:

Essay

1. Susan Napier (2001) Anime from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle
2. Susan Napier (2018) Miyazakiworld