General comment for all courses

In most cases, students who try to enroll in my courses are first placed on a waitlist, even when there is considerable space still in the course. The exception: most Japanese majors are enrolled directly. If you are on the waitlist your best strategy is to attend class. You can try talking to me after that first class but whether or not you do, I recommend you also email me using the keyword "enrollmentissue" (no spaces used—see the sidebar for how to email me). I try to rapidly determine the final enrollment of a class and can probably give you a "sense" of your status after the first two or so sessions of the course. However, since I work with the department on this it can take up to two weeks to settle all issues. The order of filters used to make selections is: majors and minors in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Asian Studies; then, intended majors and minors in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Asian Studies (when that intention is very clear); then, individual considerations that I make which include but does not place as the first priority, the waitlist number.

EA105

Is this course a good fit for you?

A certain segment of the students who take this class have difficulty with one or more of the following that are part of this course:

working with "big" ideas that have indistinct boundaries (nick-named "blending" in the course, it is the phenomenon of everything seeming to be about everything, thus I have lot of things to say about comparative method, to avoid pitfalls)

generating one's own analysis (no one has done what you will do with your films, there will be no help out there, you need to have your own ideas and you need to beat my "average Joe" rule, that is, say something that isn't obvious to everyone else already, you will be interpreting passages, scenes and such over and over)

be interested in all three countries: Japan, Korea and China

be willing to work cooperatively with a partner (the essay project is joint, and grades are shared for parts of it, timely work is essential, open-minded listening to your partner is required but — and this is the harder part for must — speaking up is also required)

This class has an uneven workload: the first half of the semester has a ton of reading; the second half of the semester is mostly screening movies. Don't take this class is you can't hunker down and read about 500 pages or so in the first half of the semester. (However, you are not required to read in English and all the texts have Chinese, Japanese and Korean versions.)

Do not take this class if you think it is a film studies class. We study comparative romance and how concepts adapt to changing times and media. We talk more about philosophy, religion and literature than film history. However, the films we watch are excellent.

Do not take this class to get sex education or become more savvy about romance. Although, on that second point, I do think you will become more savvy about romance. It is just that it is not a priority.

All the films I screen are rated R, so there should not be an issue with being asked to view material you are not comfortable with, unless you are not comfortable with R movies. There is one segment that is optional, that is NR. That being said, by the nature of the class, we do at times have explicit discussions about sex. Since we are openly sharing ideas and since I do not police the expression of ideas except to keep comments within good taste, you might hear things that offend you or your morals.

Please understand ahead of time that the topic for the course is heterosexual love, usually of the unmarried variety. Homosexual love is marked as out-of-bounds. This is not due to any attitude I have towards homosexuality; rather, as you will see, our topic is so complex already and has, in part, to do with reconstructing premodern views on romance, that if we were to add homosexual relationships, we would at least double the amount of research and reading we would need to do to handle the topic accurately or as accurately as heterosexual relationships. Thus, for practical reasons, we have limited our analytic topic.

If you skip class often, you will not be able to do well in the course. I take roll periodically and it does make a difference in how I measure your work in the class. Further, if you do not participate in the discussions (contributing ideas) that is a grade-negative and if you do not observe discussions you will have no idea how to manage the essay project. So, if you can't attend regularly, consider another course please.

(last updated: 20-Sep-2011)

Access to course details

If you are trying to find out about a course that is being taught now, or will be taught within a couple of weeks, try going to the Announcements Page for access to the course schedule, syllabus and so on. Otherwise, use this link to get a sense for the course's structure: EA105 Spring 2011.

(last updated: 20-Sep-2011)

If waitlisted or unable to get onto a waitlist ...

This class will be difficult to get a spot in, I'm predicting. The upper limit will be 32 students, much lower than the usual 50 or 60 that I enroll. Upper class majors and minors will be a first priority. Beyond that I will probably be testing students in the first week to see how interested they are in the topic and methodology. I have other criteria as well. If you are a department major or minor, and a junior or senior, I would think you should be OK. If you are an Asian Studies major or an intended department major you are probably OK. (However, I'm not sure because I don't know how many will try to sign up.) Beyond that, I think it is hard to visualize one way or the other. Come to class beginning on the first day. Talk with me. Rank on the waiting list is a factor but not the single deciding factor. That's about all I can say at this point.

I will be offering the class again in the summer (first six-week session). Consider that option. The summer has more teaching minutes and they are converted into some wonderful discussions that we are unable to have about the films during the regular year. I find the content and mechanics of this course to be a wonderful match to the special characteristics of summer classes. I will take about 40 for that course.

(last updated: 20-Sep-2011)