O K A N A G A N INSTRUCTOR Alwyn Spies OFFICE Arts 239 TELEPHONE 807-8126, (internal) 78126 E-MAIL alwyn.spies@ubc.ca JAPANESE 215 / CULT 235 INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY JAPAN THROUGH POP CULTURE Winter I 2007 OFFICE HOURS Monday 2:00-3:00 Tuesday 2:30-3:30 (or by appointment) CLASSROOM HOURS FILM VIEWING HOURS Tues/Thursday 12:30 2:00 A376 Thursdays 5:00-8:00pm A376 WEBCT The WebCT for our course is part of the new Vista early implementation program, so you need to go to a different website to log in: http://www.vista.ubc.ca Please use WebCT e-mail or discussion boards for asking any questions regarding the course. I check them daily. And PLEASE double check to make sure attachments are actually attached before you click send!! REQUIRED BOOKS These books are on reserve in the library, but I strongly recommend that you have your own copies because you are allowed to bring them to the mid-term and the final exam. Takaya, Natsuki. 2003. Fruitsbasket (Volume 1). TokyoPop Aida, Yu. 2003. Gunslinger Girl (Volume 1). ADV Manga Takemiya, Keiko. 2007. To Terra (Volumes 1-3). Vertical. Jones, Diana Wynne. 1986. Howl s moving castle. HarperCollins. REQUIRED VIEWING DVDs are available on 2-hour reserve in the library. Viewings will also be scheduled for all films on Thursday evenings (A376) from 5-8 the week before we discuss it in class. You can also rent many of these films from regular video rental stores, or buy them (new or used) from Amazon or Chapters online. I suggest that you work with your base group and share resources.
Ghost in the Shell (1996, Manga Entertainment Inc., Mamoru Oshii, dir.) Howl s Moving Castle (2004, Walt Disney Home Entertainment. Miyazaki Hayao, dir.) Revolutionary Girl Utena The Movie (2002, Software Sculptures, Kunihiko Ikuhara, dir.) Ringu (1997, Dreamworks, Nakata Hideo, dir.) Gojira (1997, Toho Cinema, Honda Ishiro, dir.) Densha Otoko (Train Man the movie) (2005, Toho Cinema / Viz Pictures, Murakami Shosuke, dir.) Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (2005, Sony Pictures. Nomura Tetsuya and Nozue Takeshi, dirs.) Avalon (2001, Miramax. Oshii Mamoru, dir.) ACADEMIC READINGS Course pack is available in the bookstore. The articles are also on reserve in the library if you wish to make your own copies. Reading number 10 ( Console video games and global corporations: creating a hybrid culture by Mia Consalvo) is available online via the UBC library and there is also a link on WebCT. There is one reading per week, and please be aware that this is HALF the course these readings are NOT less important than the stories! A detailed list of the readings is available on WebCT in both html and as a PDF. EVALUATION Journals 20% Mid-term exam 20% (open-book) OCT. 9 In-class and online exercises 10% Group presentations 25% NOV.29 Final exam 25% (semi-open-book) ASSIGNMENTS Journals: For each of the primary texts (the manga and the films) you must write a 1-2 page (double-spaced, 300-500 word) response journal. There are 11 texts and you will be receiving marks for 10, so you have one grace journal. The journals will not be graded, they will only be given marks for completion for this part. They must be BOTH uploaded to the appropriate discussion board on WebCT (by 12:30 pm ) AND typed, printed and handed to me at the end of the class. Each one is worth 2%. If you are away for a class and you only post your journal to WebCT, you can only get 1% because you have not participated in the discussions
about the journals. So, in other words, the journal is worth 1% and the journal discussions in class are worth another 1%. I will be collecting them at the end of the class and then will read them and comment on them (collectively) in the next class. The journals can be in any style you like, with images or diagrams if you wish, but they must have an argument (a thesis, or a question and a point) and cannot be a simple plot summary I already know what happens in the stories! I may give you specific questions for certain texts, and as we read more of the secondary stuff I will be expecting more quotes and secondary support for your thoughts. At the end of the semester, you will be choosing your 2 best journals and handing them in again for an A, B, C-type grade more on this in the group presentations section. Mid-term exam: This will be a 50-minute open-book writing exercise you will be given 3 synthesis essay topics and you must choose 1 and write a short essay (4-5 paragraphs). It is scheduled for October 9 th and you will be getting your grades back in the class on the 11 th as the cut-off date for withdrawing from 1 st semester courses is October 12 th. You may bring your manga, your notes, the coursepack (or photocopies of the secondary readings) and anything you choose to print out from WebCT. In-class and online exercises: Some of these will be random, others will be announced it is the best way for me to be flexible with the content and adjust what we are doing to meet your needs and interests, to allow for different learning styles and to make class participation worth it for you. They are not meant to be tests (or punishment for skipping class!), but will just be a regular part of the learning and may even be fun Hopefully we will be doing some online discussion (in English) with university students in Japan. Group presentations: There are 5 steps: 1) On November 9 th, I will post 6 questions on the Presentations Page. You will be asked to choose one and to sign up for it. Numbers will be limited, so first come, first served! 2) Next you will choose and post 2 of your journals to your Presentation Group Discussion board and justify and explain (in 300-500 words) your choice in relation to the question. You also need to hand in a hard copy of this as well. Due November 20 th. 10/25 marks. 3) You will have an online discussion (using chat, your group discussion board, and/or voice board). 5/25 marks. 4) As a group, you will post ONE summary of your online discussion to the Summary Board. Due November 27 th. 5) As a group, you need to make 2 copies of a poster outlining your summary with images (screen shots, scans etc.) and each person in your group (possibly in
pairs, depending on numbers) will take turns making a 5-minute poster presentation and running a Q&A for a small group. Presentation day will be November 29 th. Final exam: This will be a regularly scheduled exam held during the official exam period in December. It will be a 2-hour exam and will be semi open-book you can bring your course-texts and secondary readings. I will supply print-outs of the group presentation summaries. There will be 5-6 questions and you must choose 3 and write 3 short essays. The questions will be directly from the group presentations, but I will be having you apply them to specific texts (or a limited choice of texts). TENTATIVE SCHEDULE - Consult WebCT for html and PDF documents PLAGIARISM Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course. Anyone submitting written or oral work that was copied from, or created or edited by any other person will be deemed to have committed plagiarism. Furthermore, students should note that copying from the web or from material submitted for another course are also examples of plagiarism. Students guilty of plagiarism will have their names submitted to the Dean s office and will automatically receive a grade of zero for the assignment; they may also receive a grade of zero in the course. Other penalties will also apply for students who have already been convicted of plagiarism. Students are required to make themselves aware of the UBC policy on plagiarism by consulting http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/plagiarism http://www.okanagan.students.ubc.ca/calendar/index.cfm?tree=3.54.111.959 http://www.arts.ubc.ca/plagiarism_avoided.373.0.html
JAPN 215 / CULT 235 Secondary Reading List 1 Millenial monsters: Japanese toys and the global imagination. 2006. Millenial Japan:intimate alienation and new age intimacies Anne Allison UC Press 66-92, 286-288 2 Gender and power in the Japanese visual field. 2003. Joshua Mostow, Norman Bryson, Maribeth Graybill. 3 Consuming bodies: sex and contemporary Japanese art. 2002. Fran Lloyd. Busty battlin' babes: the evolution of the shojo in 1990s visual culture Afterword: Japanese pop culture and the eradication of history Sharalyn Orbaugh Yoshiko Shimada U of Reaktion Books 201-228, 258-265 186-191, 208 4 Cinema anime: critical engagements with Japanese animation. 2006. Steven T. Brown. 5 Anime: from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle. 2005. 6 Japanese horror cinema. 2005. Jay McRoy. 7 Japanese horror cinema. 2005. Jay McRoy. 8 Representing the catastrophic: coming to terms with "unimaginable" suffering and "incomprehensible"horror in visual culture. 2007. 9 Fans, bloggers, and gamers: exploring participatory culture. 2006. 10 New Media and Society. 2006. Vol8(1) 11 Gaming as culture. 2006. J. Patrick Williams, Sean Q. Hedricks, and W. Keith Winkler. 12 Power up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life. 2005 Frankenstein and the cyborg metropolis: the evolution of body and city in science fiction narratives Now you see her, now you don't: the disappearing shojo Ringing in the changes: cult distinctions and cultural differences in US fans' readings of Japanese horror cinema Aesthetics of cruelty: traditional Japanese theatre and the horror film Gojira vs. Godzilla: allegories of the catastrophic event Pop cosmopolitanism: mapping cultural flows in an age of media convergence Console video games and global corporations: creating a hybrid culture Vicarious experience: staying there connected with and through our own and other characters Conclusion: thank you, Mario [but our profits are in another country] Sharalyn Orbaugh Susan Napier Matt Hills Richard J. Hand Aaron Kerner Henry Jenkins Mio Consalvo Palgrave 81-111 Palgrave 169-193, 317-319 U of 161-174 U of Edwin Mellen NYU Press 18-28 113-144 152-172, 261-265 Sage 117-137 Tim Marsh McFarland 196-214 Chris Kohler Brady Games 269-282, 294-5