Japn 314: Japanese Visual Culture and Media
Course Description
This is a focused analysis of historical and modern Japanese society through works of art and media, including photography, film, maps, and other visual sources. Students learn to extract information from images as part of visual analysis. We will also engage with social geographical methods for understanding population density, urban flows, economic disparities, transportation, and lived environments, among other topics. Students will analyze and compare what they understand about Japanese culture with other, perhaps more familiar environments.
MLO's
This course meets MLO 2 and MLO 4.
Course Narrative
This course looks at the Japanese society through all of its visual means. This course was particularly helpful at identifying the different symbols that are embedded into Japanese society and what they mean. The course looked at religious symbols and how they are often overlooked in Japan, despite their prevalence in media. We also looked at how Japanese TV shows themes differ from TV shows produced in the United States. The beginning of the course focused greatly on ukiyo-e and the history surrounding the production of the prints. I did an essay that looked at how current ukiyo-e prints differ from older ukiyo-e prints despite the similarities in themes. The course covered a large array of Japanese visual culture and how there are themes that have repeated throughout the history of Japan as well as a series of new themes that have accompanied Japan's change as a society.
This is a focused analysis of historical and modern Japanese society through works of art and media, including photography, film, maps, and other visual sources. Students learn to extract information from images as part of visual analysis. We will also engage with social geographical methods for understanding population density, urban flows, economic disparities, transportation, and lived environments, among other topics. Students will analyze and compare what they understand about Japanese culture with other, perhaps more familiar environments.
MLO's
This course meets MLO 2 and MLO 4.
Course Narrative
This course looks at the Japanese society through all of its visual means. This course was particularly helpful at identifying the different symbols that are embedded into Japanese society and what they mean. The course looked at religious symbols and how they are often overlooked in Japan, despite their prevalence in media. We also looked at how Japanese TV shows themes differ from TV shows produced in the United States. The beginning of the course focused greatly on ukiyo-e and the history surrounding the production of the prints. I did an essay that looked at how current ukiyo-e prints differ from older ukiyo-e prints despite the similarities in themes. The course covered a large array of Japanese visual culture and how there are themes that have repeated throughout the history of Japan as well as a series of new themes that have accompanied Japan's change as a society.