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Professor of film studies Choi Jinhee on her use of films by Kurosawa and Johnnie To – and Godzilla

  • Choi, formerly a visiting professor at Yale, has a new book out soon titled ‘Forever Girls: Necro-Cinematics and South Korean Girlhood’ about body-switch films and girlishness

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The movie Miss Granny 
uses the body-switch plot device. 
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Who knew school could be this much fun?

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“I start with crime films, like Akira Kurosawa’s, then Johnnie To’s and the way similar themes are picked up at different moments in history; and how directors play with generic conventions.

“I have a section on family drama, which is big in East Asia and a very important genre. I also have animation; and I end with zombies and monsters. Godzilla!

Professor Choi Jinhee, head of film studies at King’s College, University of London, is describing her course. The curriculum promises an “understanding of film and moving-image media, the societies that produce them […] and the attitudes and debates they give rise to”; and frankly, there are far crustier degree courses out there.

Professor Jinhee Choi, head of film studies at King’s College, University of London. Photo: Jinhee Choi
Professor Jinhee Choi, head of film studies at King’s College, University of London. Photo: Jinhee Choi

Screenings of popular films from South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan, combined with a programme that offers “a solid foundation for careers in the film industry”, might sound like an unimpeachable choice for one’s college days. But a more serious academic spine runs through the professor’s agenda, one that wouldn’t occur to the rest of us in our movie-watching.

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