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Dibs Fall 2026

JAPAN 80

How Does It Move? Action and Moving Image in Modern Japan

Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. How is action constituted on the screen? How has modern technological media informed and transformed our experience and understanding of action? Exploration of how our experience and conception of action is mediated by technological aesthetic media by tracing history of portrayal and experience of action both in media theory and practice. Emphasis on moving image practices surrounding production and reception of popular action film genres from Japan such as chambara or samurai film and yakuza film. Consideration also of their relationship to international film cultures and genres (e.g. Hollywood Western, gangster film, Chinese martial arts cinema, and contemporary Hollywood blockbusters) in context of broader historical transformations in media practices and in modes of distribution and reception. Study of theoretical debates, institutional practices, and ethical and political questions that inform our inquiries into moving image as action, and into action as/through moving image. P/NP or letter grading.

Course statistics

Predicted GPA
3.74
n = 381 · 2 terms · ± 0.028
A range
82%
of letter grades
Taken P/NP
7%
93% of those passed
D / F / W
1.0%
incl. withdrawals

Sections in Fall 2026

Not offered in Fall 2026.

Enrollment history

Final enrollment per term, averaged across that term's sections. Four years deep, summer excluded. Per-section live curves are on each section page.

  • 22022W
  • 18823S
Enrolment by term: 22W 220, 23S 188
Peak 220 Most recent 188 in 23S 2 terms on record

Grade distribution

  • A+ 145 · 35.5%
  • A 122 · 29.9%
  • A- 47 · 11.5%
  • B+ 22 · 5.4%
  • B 23 · 5.6%
  • B- 5 · 1.2%
  • C+ 6 · 1.5%
  • C 5 · 1.2%
  • C- 2 · 0.5%
  • D 1 · 0.2%
  • F 3 · 0.7%
  • P 25 · 6.1%
  • NP 2 · 0.5%

Grey bars are non-letter outcomes — P/NP, S/U, incompletes. They are excluded from the GPA entirely rather than scored, because counting a P as a 4.0 would be a fabrication.

By instructor

Instructor Predicted Raw n Terms A range
YAMAZAKI, JUNKO 3.74 3.74 381 2 82%

“Predicted” is shrunk toward the course average, which is itself shrunk toward the department — so an instructor with a handful of students sits near the course mean rather than topping the list.

By term