Anime as Global Popular Culture
GENED 1042
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
What can anime’s development in Japan and its global dissemination teach us about the messy world of contemporary media culture where art and commerce, aesthetic and technology, and producers and consumers are inextricably entangled with each other?
In this course, students will learn to engage Japanese or Japanese-style animation (sometimes known as anime) through two-pronged approaches. First, the students will learn to evaluate the aesthetic and socio-cultural relevance of anime in relation to the criteria and perspectives developed through the study of more established artistic forms such literature, cinema and visual arts. We will cover topics including, anime’s generic conventions, formal aesthetic, and narrative motifs. Secondly, students will learn to address the cultural value of anime in manners that recognize the specificity of its media ecology, encompassing the modes of production, distribution, and consumption. In particular, we will pay close attention to the ways media technology, industrial production of anime, marketing, and fan culture are integral facets of anime eco-system. In this sense, we will study anime as a node in the global network, involving diverse commercial as well as non-commercial medias such as graphic novels, live-action films, video games, character merchandises, and fanzines and other fan practices. The course as a whole suggests that we need to work between these two approaches in order to understand anime as a medium of global popular culture today.
Class Notes
This course is part of the Gen Ed lottery and has an enrollment cap. To participate in the lottery, you must request permission to enroll by submitting a petition and ranking your choices through my.harvard by 11:59 p.m. EST Monday, November 9, 2026.
- Note: You must rank your course choices to participate in the lottery--even if you choose only one course.
The Gen Ed lottery will run Tuesday, November 10. If you are successful in the lottery, it will say “Petition Approved” in green above the course in your Crimson Cart. You will have until 11:59 p.m. EST Thursday, November 12, to select “enroll” and claim your seat. After that time, enrollment will open up to non-lottery petitioners.
For instructions on how to participate in the lottery, please visit: https://harvard.service-now.com/ithelp?id=kb_article&sys_id=c3e857c9db7d4bc4a752f1a51d96190e
For more information on the Gen Ed lottery specifically, please visit: https://gened.college.harvard.edu/courses/registration-and-lottery/
Sectioning for this course will take place during after registration closes. Once you have enrolled in the course and the placeholder (“DIS”) section, please rank your section preferences by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, November 20. To do this, click on the cog icon next to the Gen Ed course in your Crimson Cart. You will then be prompted to rank the section times. Once we have your ranking, we will do our best to find you a seat in your highest-ranked available section.
Instructions on how to rank sections can be found here: https://harvard.service-now.com/ithelp?id=kb_article&sys_id=3f5cdb41dbfd4bc4a752f1a51d9619a1
If none of the times work for you, you are welcome to not set any preferences and remain in the placeholder for the time being. However, please note that if enrollment does not significantly change during Add/Drop, no additional sections will be added and you will ultimately need to enroll in an available section or drop the course.
Not Available for Cross Registration
NOTE: This course requires additional sections; you will be prompted to choose secondary components during the Add to Cart process
