Media Culture in Asia, 7.5 credits

This course introduces the increasing body of English-language scholarship on Asia as a media region. It applies a cultural rather than technological concept of media, highlighting actors and practices of mediation but also the materiality of the mediating objects. Theoretically it foregrounds cultural studies and media studies. Practically it focuses on entertaining fiction in popular media that are globally associated with Asia and that play a central role in recent franchises and fandom (such as animation, comics, TV drama, genre cinema, video games, popular literature, light novels etc.). While the emphasis is on the 21st century, historical background is also considered important.