The History of the Korean Culture and Media Industry

Michael Kim

Office: New Millennium Hall 613

Email:

Phone: 2123-6294

Wednesdays 9:00-12:00

This course will explore various aspects of the history of the Korean culture and media industry from the early modern period to the present. The first part of the course will introduce some theoretical perspectives on the social impact of the culture and media industry. The second part will examine the history of the culture and media industry

Course Requirements:

Class Participation20%

Media Theory/Interpretation Exam20%

Paper Proposal/ Presentation20%

Final Paper40%

Students will be graded on their midterm exam, paper presentations and the final papers. The final paper must have proper footnoting and will be graded for both their content and form. Students who do not have experience writing academic papers should consult with me prior to handing in the assignment.

Week One: Introduction (9-7)

Week Two: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives on the Print/Media Revolution(9-14)

McLuhan, The Gutenburg Galaxy

Elizabeth Eisenstein, “Defining the Initial Shift”in the Book History Reader, p. 151-174

Pierre Bourdieu, “The Field of Cultural Production,”p. 77-103, Book History Reader, 77-102

Week Three: Media Technologies and Society (9-21)

Tom Gunning, “Tracing the Individual Body: Photography, Dectectives and Early Cinema,”in Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life, p. 15-45.

Friedrich Kittler, “Introduction,”in Gramophone, Film, Typewriter,p. 1-20.

Week Four: Critical Medial Studies (9-28)

Max Horkheimer & Theodor W. Adorno, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception in The Cultural Studies Reader, p. 31-41.

Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,”in Illuminations, p. 217-251.

Siegfried Kracauer, The Mass Ornament,

Week Five: Reading/Interpreting Media Texts (10-5)

Stuart Hall, “Encoding/Decoding,”in Popular Culture: Production and Consumption, p. 123-132.

John Fiske, “Intertextuality,”in Popular Culture: Production and Consumption,p. 219-233.

Robert Allen, “On Reading Soaps: A Semiotic Primer,”in Popular Culture: Production and Consumption, p. 234-242.

Week Six: Midterm Exam (10-12)

Week Seven: Early Modern Media Texts in Korea(10-19)

Week Eight: The Korean Publishing Industry (10-26)

Week Nine: The Newspapers Publishing Industry (11-2)

Week Ten: The Cinema Industry (11-9)

*Guest Lecture on Cinema History

Week Eleven: The Radio/Music Industry (11-16)

*Guest Lecture on Colonial Music Industry

Week Twelve: Paper Presentations (11-23)

Week Thirteen: Television and Korean Modernity (11-30)

Week Fourteen: The Korean Wave (12-7)

Week Fifteen: Papers Due (12-14)