Topic for Winter 2021: Asian American Film, Video and New Media
John Chu's 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians was widely seen as heralding a new era in Asian American representation but this ignored the fact that Asian Americans have been present in Hollywood as actors and filmmakers since Hollywood's inception. This class will explore the history of Asian American representation in visual media and the impact of the persistent presence of Asian Americans on visual culture's aesthetics and ideology. It will give special consideration to the importance of Asian American creators in the rise of new media cultural forms such as youtube, tik tok and instagram influencers.