60-391 Critical Studies: Korean Flicks: A History of Contemporary Cinema

9 units, Carnegie Mellon University

We all know about Netflix's Squid Game, some of us even binge-watched it, but where does it come from? Though many Korean flicks, like Parasite (2019), are blockbusters and moneymakers, is that all there is? Focusing on the three decades between the 1990s and the 2010s, this class offers a brief survey of Korean cinema ranging from lucrative crowd-pleasers to fan favorites of indie communities. Class discussions explore films such as The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (1996), Waikiki Brothers (2001), Take Care of My Cats (2001), Old Boy (2003), The Host (2006), Poetry (2010), Miracle on Jongno Street (2010), Train to Busan (2016), and House of Hummingbird (2019). Filmmakers such as Park Chan-Wook, Bong Joon Ho, Hong Sang-Soo, Lee Chang-Dong, Jeong Jae-Eun, Kim So Yong, Yoon Ga-Eun, and Kim Bora are analyzed in conjunction with critics' reviews and scholarly articles.

Prerequisites: none listed

Offered: Fall 2025

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