21G.065 | Fall 2013 | Undergraduate

Japanese Literature and Cinema

Course Description

This course surveys both cinematic and literary representations of diverse eras and aspects of Japanese culture such as the classical era, the samurai age, wartime Japan and the atomic bombings, social change in the postwar period, and the appropriation of foreign cultural themes, with an emphasis on the modern period. …
This course surveys both cinematic and literary representations of diverse eras and aspects of Japanese culture such as the classical era, the samurai age, wartime Japan and the atomic bombings, social change in the postwar period, and the appropriation of foreign cultural themes, with an emphasis on the modern period. Directors include Akira Kurosawa and Hiroshi Teshigahara. Authors include Kobo Abe and Yukio Mishima. Films shown have subtitles in English. Taught in English.
Learning Resource Types
Presentation Assignments
Written Assignments
Three Chinese characters in black with a white background
Rashomon (羅生門), a 1950 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, is featured and discussed in this course. (Image courtesy of MIT OpenCourseWare.)