This course will examine South Korean history through cinema, and Korean cinema through history, by viewing films from various time periods that depict moments in Korean history. The films will range from colonial-era works from the 1940s to contemporary Korean films of the 2010s, and each module will be accompanied by historical background readings. Throughout this course, we will watch films about a certain time period from that time period, and also watch films about that same period that were produced long after; we will examine films that offer sharply differing portrayals and perspectives on the same time period. The objective is not to learn historical facts through films, but rather to understand how films depict history, how the socio-political climate of the film’s own time period shapes its depiction of history, and how we can view film texts themselves as a different kind of historical argument.

This course does not assume prior knowledge of Korean culture or of film studies, but rather seeks to provide students with a basic understanding of modern Korean history, as well as understanding how media itself is part of Korea’s tumultuous past.