Room: MQ 0160
Time: T/Th 2:30-4:30
Instructor: Kirk A. Denton / Hagerty Hall 375 / 292-5548 (Office)
E-mail: denton.2@osu.edu
course webpage: http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/denton2/courses/c346/e346.htm
Office hours: W 1:30-3:30

This course seeks both to use film as a medium through which to get at issues relevant to the Asian American experience and to treat it as an art form in its own right, one that has had a difficult and dialogic relationship with mainstream Hollywood film. The course begins with a brief historical overview of the Asian American experience and introduces issues of Asian American identity. It then spends a week looking at "representations" of Asians in mainstream Hollywood film, which are crucial to understanding the emergence of a self-conscious Asian American cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. That cinema began with the documentary form, and the documentary continues to be central to it, so the next three weeks look at three different kinds of documentaries: family histories, social histories, and political documentaries. Reacting against mainstream representations, these films make Asians Americans subjects of history and not passive objects of it, or they draw attention to historical, social, or political issues absent in the mainstream media. We next turn out attention to feature-length fictional films, pursuing through them issues of identity, generational conflict, and history, all of which are key to the Asian American experience. These films are narrated in a fairly mainstream Hollywood style, which raises the important question of whether Asian American film can be "oppositional." Finally, we look at some experimental filmmakers who have rejected that style altogether as too intertwined with racist values. Films viewed in the class treat the experience of Chinese, Koreans, Indians, and Japanese in America, although the emphasis is on Chinese and Japanese Americans (something necessitated by the availability of films).

The course will be conducted primarily in lecture/discussion format. "Primary" films will be viewed in class, but students will also be expected on occasion to view "secondary" films outside of class. Films will be put on reserve at the Hagerty Hall computer lab. A course listserv will keep students posted on film viewings and allow them to express themselves in written form.

Takaki, Ron. 1998. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston: Back Bay Books.

Xing, Jun. 1998. Asian America Through the Lens History, Representation and Identity. Alta Mira Press.

Ang, Ien. "To Be or Not to Be Chinese: Diaspora, Culture and Postmodern Ethnicity." Southeast Asian Journal of Social Sciences 21, no. 1 (1993).

Chan, Jachinson. Chinese American Masculinities From Fu Manchu to Bruce Lee. NY: Routledge, 2001.

Chen, Shehong. Being Chinese, Becoming Chinese American. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006.

Chan, Suheng. Asian Americans: An Interpretive History. Boston: Twayne, 1991.

Chang, Victoria M., ed. Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.

Feng, Peter X. "In Search of Asian American Film." Cineaste 21, no. 1-2 (1995).

-----. "Redefining Asian American Masculinity: Steven Okasaki's 'American Sons.'" Cineaste 22, no. 3 (1996).

-----. "Being Chinese American, Becoming Asian American: Chan is Missing." Cinema Journal, 354 (Summer 1996).

-----. Identities in Motion: Asian American Film and Video. Durham: Duke UP, 2002.

-----. ed. Screening Asian Americans. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002.

Garcia, Roger, ed. Out of the Shadows: Asians in American Cinema. Locarno: Festival Intenazionale del Film di Locarno, 2001.

Gee, Bill. Asian American Media Reference Guide. 2nd Ed. NY: Asian CineVision, 1990.

Ito, Robert B. "'A Certain Slant': A Brief History of Hollywood Yellowface." Bright Lights Film Journal

Kashiwabara, Amy. "Vanishing Son: The Appearance, Disappearance, and Assimilation of the Asian-American Man in American Mainstream Media."

Lee, Robert G. Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999.

Leong, Russell, ed. Moving the Image: Independent Asian Pacific American Media Arts . Los Angeles UCLA Asian American Studies Center 1991.

Liu, Sandra, and Darrel Hamamoto, eds. Countervisions: Asian American Film Criticism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000.

Marchetti, Gina. Romance and the Yellow Peril: Race, Sex, and Discursive Hollywood Strategies in Hollywood Fiction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Studlar, Gaylyn and Matthew Bernstein, eds. Visions of the East: Orientalism in Hollywood. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Wu, Jean Yu-wen Shen and Ming Song, eds. Asian American Studies: A Reader. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000.

Xing, Jun. "Imagery, Counter Memory, and Re-visioning of Asian American History: Rea Tajiri's History and Memory for Akiko and Takashige." In Annette White-Parks, et al., eds, A Gathering of Voices on the Asian American Experience. Fort Akinson, WI: Highlands Press, 1994, 93-100.

Yin, Xiao-huang. Chinese American Literature since the 1850s. Urbana: University of Illinois, 2000.

General

Amerasia Journal (Editor, Russell Leong, UCLA)
Asian American Association (OSU)
The Asian American Cybernauts Page (excellent site, including--on the Concerns page--excerpts from texts)
Asian American Resources (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Asian American Studies (The Ohio State University Library)
Asian American Studies Center (UCLA)
Asian American Studies Program (OSU)
Asian Nation: The Landscape of Asian America [one of the best sites out there]
AsianWeek (The Voice of Asian America)
Center for the Study of the Chinese Southern Diaspora
Chinese American Museum of Chicago
Chinese Cultures Abroad (Vincent Kelly Pollard, University of Hawai'i-Manoa)
ImaginAsian Radio (SF-based radio station devoted to Asian American music and culture)
ImaginAsian TV (cable tv channel devoted to "promoting and serving the diverse cultures that comprise the Asian American community")
Isei Magazine: Korean American Voices at Harvard
Japanese American National Museum (LA)
Journal of Asian American Studies (John Hopkins University; Project Muse journal)
Model Minority (a guide to Asian American empowerment)
Nikkei Heritage (National Japanese American Historical Society)
Organization of Asian Americans
Peter X Feng's homepage [with good links to important resources for Asian American film and cultural studies]

History

Chinese American History Time Line
Chinese American Museum (LA)
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Chronology of Asian American History (from Suheng Chan, Asian Americans, An Interpretive History)
Crossing East (radio documentary on Asian American history in eight 1-hour segments)
Fair: US Immigration History
The History of San Francisco's Chinatown
Japanese American National Museum (LA)
Japanese Internment website
Korean Americans (a brief overview of Korean immigration to the US)
Korean Heritage Library (University of Southern California)
Museum of Chinese in the Americas (NYC)
Wing Luke Asian Museum (Seattle)

Film

Ancestors in the Americas (Center for Educational Telecommunications, Loni Ding; and a PBS documentary)
AsianAmericanFilm.com (Greg Pak)
Asian American International Film Festival (NYC)
Asian American Media Arts [prepared by Prof. Peter Feng]
Asian Cinevision (ACV)
Asian Education Media Service (University of Illinois)
Chicago Asian American Film Festival
Chicago Asian American Showcase 2001
Faces of the Past, Voices of the Present [documentary on the internment of Japanese by OSU student Gena Duberstein; can be viewed online]
Media Resouces Center (UC, Berkeley)
NAATA (National Asian American Telecommunications Association)
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
Visual Communication (Southern California Asian American Studies Central, Inc.)

Theater

Ma-Yi Theatre Company
National Asian American Theater Company
National Asian American Theater Festival (inaugural year 2007)
Pan Asian Repertory Theater (NY-based theater company that specializes in performing Asian American plays)

Literature

Angel Island Immigration Station Poety
Asian American Literature: History, Classroom Use, Bibliography and WWW Resources
Asian American Writers' Workshop

Students are expected to view all films (those shown in class and those on reserve) and keep up with weekly readings. Students will be evaluated on their class participation (10%), two reaction papers (40%), and a final project (50%). Oral participation in class and participation through a course listserv count as "participation." The reaction papers ask you, in 3-4 pages, to express your thoughts on particular films, one documentary and one feature film.

Two "reaction" papers:

(1) For the first reaction paper, students will write on any ONE of the following documentaries: Yellow Tale Blues, Who's Going to Pay for these Donuts?, History and Memory, or Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women's Perspective. Your paper should be around 3 pages long. In preparing your papers, you should NOT consult secondary readings. The point of these assignments is for you to actively engage with the film. You may begin with a "gut" reaction (i.e., how did the film make you feel), but you should also try to intellectualize your feelings (i.e., why does the film make me feel this way). A reaction paper should NOT be a summary of the plot. We want you to think about more subtle levels of meaning. In addition to the film's themes and content, you should also take into consideration issues of film technique, narrative style, and cultural codes.

(2) Picture Bride (week 8).

Final project (film production):

Students are encouraged to produce their own films for their final projects, althought conventional research papers, websites, etc. are also acceptable. Research papers can be, for example, analyses of individual films, comparative analyses of several films, or investigation of some aspect of Asian American history or social experience through film. Video/digital-video productions can be either documentary or fictional in form, but they must, of course, have some aspect of Asian American experience as their central theme. A website, for example, might focus on visual representations of Asians in mass media. At the end of the class, we will have a mini film festival, in which student films are shown to the class (and perhaps open to others). Equipment for making films can be borrowed from Office of Information Technology, Classrooom Services (Room 11 Lord Hall). Another possible source of equipment and multimedia services is the Digital Union (Room 370, Sciences and Engineering Library).

When filming, please be aware of the following:

-the voice of the cinematographer (the one holding the camera and doing the filmming) is right next to the camera mike; unless this is part of your design, the cinematographer's voice should not be heard

-to make for a balanced sound, it is best to use a microphone with an extensiion that can be moved close to your "actors"; one can balance sound in the editing stage as well

-be sure to test out your final product on the equipment in our classroom; supported formats include DVD, Quicktime, WMV, Realplayer

-experiment with different film techniques and try a film that only has a still camera place in front of interviewees

Final project (research paper)

If you are writing a conventional research paper, please consider the following. You may not write about a film that we have already seen and discussed in class. I would prefer you work on a single film rather than engage in comparative analysis, but I might also accept proposals to treat a group of films by looking at common styles or themes. You may consult secondary sources, but it is not necessary that you do so. If you consult secondary sources, please use proper bibliographic format (MLA or Chicago Style), giving credit where credit is due. Rest assured that I am very familiar with the secondary literature. Any use of these materials without proper references will be considered plagiarism, a serious infraction of academic protocol (see Academic Misconduct below).

This paper is different from your "reaction" papers. Your analysis should offer an interpretation of the meaning of the film, which might ultimately be ambiguous or paradoxical. Your analysis should take into consideration the form and style, not just content. In other words, please think about how meaning is conveyed through the form of the film (e.g., its narrative structure, editing, use of camera, mise en scene). You might also want to consider in your analysis the socio-historical and cultural context that produced the film(s). What social function did the film have in the period of history in which it was written? Does this context somehow shape our reading of the film? However, do not allow this historical approach to limit your own subjective interpretation. Engage yourself creatively with the film(s), but be sure to draw evidence for your interpretation from the film(s) itself.

I would recommend to all of you (especially those of you who lack experience in writing papers) to avail yourself of the services of the OSU Writing Center. I expect your papers to be grammatically correct, written in proper academic style, well structured, organized logically and argumented coherently. Open with an explicit statement explaining your argument or intepretation; follow this with a brief (no longer than one page) synopsis of the plot of the film; finally, present a systematically-argued, analysis, being sure to include evidence (citations) from the film(s) to substantiated your views. Use the present tense, not the past, to describe the contents of the film(s) your are analyzing; think of the world of the film as alive in the present. Harvard's Writing Center has an extensive list of tools with down-to-earth, practical advice on how to approach research and writing. The George Mason University Writing Center Guide to Writing about Film is also useful.

Grades adhere to the following scale:

A = 90 and above
B = 80-90
C = 70-80
D = 60-70
F = 60 and below

Academic misconduct is defined as any activity which tends to compromise the academic integrity of the institution, or subvert the educational process. Examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to: (a) violation of course rules as contained in the course syllabus or other information provided the student; violation of program regulations as established by departmental committees; (b) providing or receiving information during quizzes and examinations such as course examinations and general examinations; or providing or using unauthorized assistance in the laboratory, at the computer terminal, or on field work; (c) submitting plagiarized work for an academic requirement. Plagiarism is the representation of another's works or ideas as one's own; it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person's work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas; (d) falsification, fabrication, or dishonesty in reporting research results; (e) serving as, or enlisting the assistance of, a "ringer" or substitute for a student in the taking of examinations; (f) alteration of grades or marks by the student in an effort to change the earned grade or credit; and (g) alteration of University forms used to drop or add courses to a program, or unauthorized use of those forms.

Students with disabilities that have been certified by the Office for Disability Services will be appropriately accommodated, and should inform the instructor as soon as possible of their needs. The Office for Disability Services is located at 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Ave; TEL: 292-3307; TDD: 292-0901.

Week One: Historical background/Film History
Readings: Takaki 1998: 3-78. Yale Film Studies Film Analysis Website

Week Two: Hollywood Representations of Asians
Viewings: Slaying the Dragon (60 min), and clips from several Hollywood films.

Readings: Jun Xing.1998, 53-86.

Week Three: Identity, Personal Diary and Family Portraits
Viewings: Yellow Tale Blues (30min), dir. by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima; Who's Going to Pay for these Donuts? (58min), dir. by Janice Tanaka.

Readings: Xing 1998: 87-124.

Week Four: Social History (first reaction paper due on Tuesday of this week)
Viewings: History and Memory (31min), Rea Tajiri; Sa-I-gu: From Korean Women's Perspective (31mins), dir. by Dai Sil Kim-Gibson.

Readings: Xing 1998: 87-124; Takaki 1998: 357-405.

Week Five: Politics
Viewings: Who Killed Vincent Chin (83min), dir. by Rene Tajima-Pena and Christine Choy.

Readings: Xing 1998: 87-124; Athea Yip, Remembering Vincent Chin

Week Six: Identity
Viewings: Chan Is Missing (80min), dir. by Wayne Wang. [Interview with Wayne Wang]

Readings: Takaki 1998: 230-269

Week Seven: Generations
Viewings: The Joy Luck Club (139min), dir. by Wayne Wang.

Readings: Xing 1998: 125-156

Week Eight: Immigration
Viewings: The Picture Bride (95min), dir. by Kayo Hatta. [The Picture Bride website]

Readings: Takaki 1998: 132-176

Week Nine: Family Drama
Viewings: Mississippi Masala (118min), dir. by Mira Nair [Mira Nair bio; Interview with Mira Nair].

Readings: Takaki 1998: 294-314

Week Ten: Avant-Garde
Viewings: Surname Viet, Given Name Nam (dir. Trinh T.Minh-ha)

Readings: Xing 1998: 157-174.