Popular Culture of the Asia Pacific
Overview
This unit explores popular culture from the Asia Pacific region, including films, TV, pop music, cultural icons, and digital interactive entertainment. As part of critically analysing the localised dynamics of Asia Pacific popular cultures, we also consider how they are part of transnational cultural flows in the digital age, and how Australia is located within this region. In weekly seminars and screenings, students learn how popular culture is underpinned by complex industrial, geopolitical, and cultural power structures. We investigate the redistribution of regional, national, economic, socio-ecological and cultural influence through the flow of Western popular culture into the Asia Pacific, along with the flow of popular culture out of these nations. Through industry-standard assessment, students will analyse local and global entertainment markets and use the Adobe Creative Suite to create portfolio-ready assignments that communicate their findings.
Requisites
The requisite rule for MDA20018 (above) is:
Either:
50 credit points
OR
MDA10001 Introduction to Media Studies AND MDA10018 Content Creator Lab
02-November-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Articulate a critical understanding of popular cultures of the Asia Pacific region
- Examine how regional forces and North/South logics enhance or impede the globalising of cultures and identities
- Engage with practical and theoretical paradigms that apply in cultural studies within regional and global contexts
- Reflect on the role of diasporic communities in shaping global and local popular cultures
- Analyse the historical, social and cultural environments that produce pop products and use this knowledge to develop industry-standard skills
- Defend arguments using a range of theoretical frameworks, focusing on postcolonial and other non-hegemonic perspectives
- Understand various fan communities and their relationship to popular culture
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Class | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| On-campus Class | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Specified Activities Various | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Unspecified Activities Various | 6.50 | 12 weeks | 78 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research Essay | Individual | 40% | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 |
| Film/TV Review | Individual | 20% | 3,4 |
| Applied Project | Group | 40% | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 |
Content
- Theoretical perspectives on transcultural flows of popular culture
- Japanese arthouse and popular cinemas, and their influence on Western cultural production
- K-drama, K-pop and the global Korean Wave
- Hong Kong entertainment industries
- Mainstream Chinese cinema: the new Hollywood?
- Bollywood and the South Asian diaspora
- Videogames and mobile media cultures in the Asia Pacific
- Anime and manga in the West
- Genre cinema and television in the Asia Pacific
- Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Verbal communication
- Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Communicating using different media
- Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Collaboration and negotiation
- Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Teamwork roles and processes
- Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Information literacy
- Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Technical literacy
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.