General comment for all courses

In most cases, students who try to enroll in courses I frequently teach that have limited enrollment opportunities are first placed on a waitlist, even when there is considerable space still in the course.

If you are on the waitlist your best strategy is a) to attend the first sessions of the class and b) to state your interest in the course in an email to me using the keyword "enrollmentissue" (no spaces used—see the sidebar for how to email me). You can also email me and, if I have time, I can give you a sense of my intentions for that particular class (not for you as an individual but the general size of the class and so on.) You can try talking to me after that first class but as a practical matter I do not always remember our conversation since there are quite a few random things going on after class during those first few sessions. Just talking to me is risky; talking with me and following up with an email is much better. Use the keyword, above.

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. In most cases whether or not you are a major, intended major or minor is very important, and when you will be graduating is important. However, beyond this there can be a wide variety of individual factors which I give due consideration. In some of my classes Jan Johnson makes most of the choices, but in communication with me. In other classes I like to take the lead.

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 is currently (for Spring 2013) in a room for 35 students. I will take up to 34. Given the current enrollment and waitlist, nearly everyone will be able to join this class if they want to do so. BUT, there are some particular conditions to this that will make it not appropriate for all students. Please read the description on this page and please come to the first two sessions. If you miss the beginning sessions you will be dropped, even if you have a good reason not to be there. The mechanics of the course are such that we start very early and I need an entirely stable enrollment list.

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.

As we get close to the semester, there might be further announcements on the announcements page. Check there.

(last updated: 20-Nov-2012)