KREN-3041: Korean Narratives: Film & Lit  

Course Description: This course is designed for students who have successfully completed KREN-3001 Integrated Advanced Korean, KREN-3003 Advanced Oral Communication, or an equivalent course, and wish to advance their Korean language skills to a high level, particularly for engaging with political and social issues. Narrative serves as a unique human approach to understanding the world, and this course explores various themes and narrative forms in contemporary South Korean short stories and films. Students will examine a range of narrative themes, including Politics, Class and Inequity, Disaster, Family, the MZ Generation, Robot and Posthumanism, Vampire and Zombie motifs, and the Globalization of Korean Literature and Film. The course also delves into language elements in contemporary literature and film that shape narrative form, such as time and space, plot, voice, focalization, speech, and characterization. By analyzing these aspects, students will explore how language use influences narrative’s role in shaping social realities in specific ways. Through this course, students will gain an understanding of how narrative, distinct from other genres, represents and constructs social realities in contemporary Korea. They will acquire the ability to analyze and articulate diverse perspectives and worldviews in Korean literature and film, while drawing comparisons with their own cultural experiences. Language proficiency will be enhanced through reading, discussion, presentations, and critical writing on Korean literature and film. Primary texts in Korean will be used, and all class activities will be conducted in Korean.