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K-Culture, Media & the Global Hallyu
Core Course Film Studies

K-movie and Hallyu

Seoul, South Korea · A National Cinema Becomes a Global Force

Total Hours
45
Credits
3
Location
Seoul, South Korea
Prerequisites
None
K-movie and Hallyu

Course Description

When Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won four Academy Awards in 2020, it became the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture in Oscar history. When Squid Game debuted on Netflix in 2021, it became the platform's most-watched series ever. These are not accidents. They are the visible peaks of a Korean cinema and television industry that has been quietly building creative, technical, and narrative excellence for three decades.

This course examines Korean cinema and television as art, industry, and cultural diplomacy. Tracing the arc from the Korean New Wave of the 1990s through the global breakthroughs of the 2010s–2020s, the course gives students the analytical tools to read Korean visual storytelling — and the broader Korean Wave (Hallyu) of which it is part — with depth and discrimination. Set in Seoul, the city where most Korean film and television is shot and produced, the course combines academic analysis with direct industry exposure.

Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals

This course engages with SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality, through representation analysis), SDG 8 (Decent Work, through labor questions in the Korean film industry), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 UN Sustainable Development Goal 8 UN Sustainable Development Goal 10 UN Sustainable Development Goal 17

Key Topics

The Korean New Wave (1990s–early 2000s) Auteur cinema: Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, Lee Chang-dong, Hong Sang-soo Korean genre cinema: thriller, melodrama, action The Korean studio system Streaming and the Korean television revolution Squid Game and the Netflix-Korea moment K-drama as cultural form Gender, class, and Korean cinematic narrative Korean film festivals and global circulation The future of Korean visual storytelling

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Identify the major movements, auteurs, and turning points of Korean cinema since 1990.

    Assessment: Assessment: Mapping exercise: timeline-and-essay.

  2. Analyze a Korean film or television series using formal, narrative, and cultural frameworks.

    Assessment: Assessment: Close reading of a chosen work.

  3. Evaluate the structural conditions — industrial, regulatory, technological — that made the Korean cinematic ascent possible.

    Assessment: Assessment: Industry analysis paper.

  4. Engage critically with questions of gender, class, and representation in Korean visual storytelling.

    Assessment: Assessment: Critical essay on representation.

  5. Situate Korean cinema and television within the broader Hallyu phenomenon and global media flows.

    Assessment: Assessment: Final research paper and presentation.

Course Format and Assessment Methods

Total grade is composed of the following weighted components:

15%
Class Discussion and Screening Engagement
Engagement with weekly screenings and seminar discussion.
All LOs
10%
Mapping Exercise
Timeline-and-essay mapping the major movements of Korean cinema.
LO 1
20%
Close Reading
Detailed analysis of one Korean film or series, applying course frameworks.
LO 2
15%
Industry Analysis
Paper on a structural dimension of the Korean film/TV industry.
LO 3
15%
Representation Essay
2,000-word essay on representation — gender, class, or another axis — in Korean visual storytelling.
LO 4
25%
Final Research Paper and Presentation
5,000-word research paper situating Korean cinema in Hallyu and global media, with class presentation.
LO 5

Course Outline

The course is organized into the following sessions, which may be combined or expanded depending on summer vs. semester format.

  1. Why Korean Cinema Now
    Course framing: how Korean cinema became a global force, and what it offers students of media.
  2. Before the New Wave
    Korean cinema from the colonial era through the 1980s — the long backstory.
  3. The Korean New Wave
    The 1990s–early 2000s explosion: Im Kwon-taek, Hong Sang-soo, Park Chan-wook, Lee Chang-dong, Bong Joon-ho.
  4. Park Chan-wook and the Vengeance Trilogy
    Close study of Oldboy as world cinema — and the international breakthrough it represented.
  5. Bong Joon-ho
    Bong's filmography from Memories of Murder through Parasite — and the social texture of his work.
  6. Genre and the Korean Mainstream
    Korean thrillers, melodramas, and action films — the commercial backbone of the Korean industry.
  7. The Korean Studio System
    CJ ENM, Showbox, NEW, Lotte Entertainment — the corporate structure of Korean film.
  8. The Television Revolution
    The shift from network to cable to streaming, and the rise of premium Korean drama.
  9. Squid Game and the Netflix Moment
    How Korean storytelling went truly global — and what it means for the next decade.
  10. K-drama as Cultural Form
    Narrative conventions, emotional register, and the global audience for Korean drama.
  11. Gender and Class in Korean Visual Storytelling
    Reading Korean film and television for what it says about Korean society — and what it deliberately leaves out.
  12. The Korean Film Festival Circuit
    Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and the strategic curation of Korean cinema for global audiences.
  13. The Future of Korean Visual Storytelling
    Streaming consolidation, AI in production, and what Korean creatives are saying about what comes next.
  14. Capstone Presentations
    Final research-paper presentations.

Field Visits and Guest Speakers

Seoul is the city as classroom. Course-related field components vary by term and availability, but examples include:

  • Studio tour at a major Korean film or TV production facility (Dexter Studios, MBC, or JTBC).
  • Visit to the Korean Film Archive in Sangam.
  • Walking tour of Seoul filming locations from major Korean films and series.
  • Guest lecture from a Korean film critic, producer, or actor.
  • Attendance at a screening or talk at the Korean Film Council or a Seoul independent cinema.
  • Day trip to Busan (semester-length) for the Korean film archive and the Busan International Film Festival sites.

Readings & Resources

Selected readings and resources for this course. Full syllabus and reading list provided at enrollment.

Books

Choi, Jinhee. The South Korean Film Renaissance: Local Hitmakers, Global Provocateurs. Wesleyan University Press, 2010.

Gateward, Frances, ed. Seoul Searching: Culture and Identity in Contemporary Korean Cinema. SUNY Press, 2007.

Joo, Jeongsuk. South Korean Television Drama: Identity and the Past. Routledge, 2020.

Klein, Christina. Cold War Cosmopolitanism: Period Style in 1950s Korean Cinema. University of California Press, 2020.

Lee, Hyangjin. Contemporary Korean Cinema: Identity, Culture, Politics. Manchester University Press, 2001.

Yecies, Brian, and Aegyung Shim. The Changing Face of Korean Cinema: 1960 to 2015. Routledge, 2016.

Films and Recordings

Bong, Joon-ho, dir. 2003. Memories of Murder.

Bong, Joon-ho, dir. 2019. Parasite.

Hwang, Dong-hyuk, dir. 2021. Squid Game. Netflix.

Lee, Chang-dong, dir. 2010. Poetry.

Park, Chan-wook, dir. 2003. Oldboy.

Park, Chan-wook, dir. 2016. The Handmaiden.

Articles and Reports

Choi, JungBong. 2015. "Hallyu and Cultural Translation." International Journal of Cultural Studies.

Jin, Dal Yong. 2019. "Snack Culture's Dream of Big Screen Culture: K-content in Streaming." International Journal of Communication.

Klein, Christina. 2008. "Why American Studies Needs to Think about Korean Cinema." American Quarterly.

Korea Creative Content Agency. 2024. Korean Content Industry Annual Report.

Lee, Sangjoon. 2020. "The Korean Wave: From the Sewing Machine to the Smartphone." Asian Communication Research.

Paquet, Darcy. 2024. Korean Cinema Today. KoBiz / Korean Film Council.