Spring 2026 – LIT 270/Gender and East Asian TV Dramas

LIT 270 – 02
1 course unit
no prerequisites
Term: Spring 2026
Time: 3:30-4:50pm TF
Room: Bliss Annex 151		 Prof. Glenn Steinberg
Office: Bliss Hall 216
Office Phone: 771-2106
Office Hours: 2-5:30pm on Mondays or by appointment
E-mail: gsteinbe@tcnj.edu

TEXTBOOKS:

As your textbooks in this class, you must subscribe, for the duration of the semester, to the following streaming services:

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  This is a Topics Course with no prerequisites, offered primarily for sophomores, juniors, and seniors.  The topic of this section is “Gender and East Asian TV Dramas.”

K-dramas have become an international sensation, and TV shows from other East Asian countries (including Japan, Thailand, mainland China, and Taiwan) have gained a world-wide audience through streaming services such as Netflix, Viki, AsianCrush, iQIYI, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.  In this course, we look at one East Asian TV genre (modern-day romantic comedy) and the portrayal of gender in that genre.  How do masculinity and femininity seem to be defined?  What are the relations between the genders?  Are the boundaries between genders clearly drawn and strictly enforced?  How does the portrayal of gender in East Asian romantic comedies differ from – or track closely with – pop culture in the U.S.?  How might the portrayal of gender in K-dramas and other East Asian TV shows have contributed to their world-wide popularity?

You may be taking this course because you are a big fan of K-dramas and/or other East Asian TV.  But in this class, we look at gender in these TV series with a very critical eye.  At times, you may feel that our discussions in class are trying to criticize or ruin your love of the shows.  That is certainly not the course’s intent.  I personally love many of these dramas myself.  Cheese in the Trap (2016), for example, is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, and Crash Landing on You (2019) is one of my wife’s favorites.  But even when we love something dearly, being aware of how the thing we love may be reinforcing gender stereotypes and contributing to gender inequities is a good thing.  Not being aware just perpetuates the stereotypes and the inequities.  The ancient philosopher Plato once wrote that an unexamined life is not worth living.  I’d add that an unexamined love isn’t worth loving.

When the College went through a curriculum revision several years ago, the vast majority of undergraduate courses were “transformed” from 3-credit to 4-credit (1-unit) learning experiences.  While most of the classes continued to meet for only 3 academic hours per week, it was understood that the “transformed” courses offered a depth of learning with additional learning tasks unfolding in the equivalent of a fourth hour, including, sometimes, an actual additional hour of class interaction.  As the equivalent of the fourth hour in this course,

F) students are assigned additional learning tasks that make the semester’s learning experience more deeply engaged and rigorous, and no other additional classroom space is needed.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTATIONS.  The principal learning activities in this course are watching TV dramas, writing, and discussion.  The watching of the assigned TV dramas is the foundation of your learning.  If you do not watch them, you miss out on that foundation, so keeping up with watching them is absolutely essential.

Upon the foundation of your watching of the TV dramas, you build by writing response papers, which are more about writing-to-learn than writing-as-assessment.  Response papers are a safe, low-stress space for you to try out ideas, increase your understanding of concepts, and improve your retention of what you’re learning.  By writing, you reinforce and expand the learning that you’re gaining from your watching. But in order for response papers to serve this function (helping you to think through the readings to increase understanding and deepen learning), you need to actually write them yourself.  Using generative AI to write them defeats the purpose.  For this reason, you are not allowed to use generative AI of any kind for any assistance with the writing of your response papers – not for brainstorming, not for the actual writing, not even for checking grammar and punctuation.  In general, AI just spews out bad writing anyway – full of “hallucinations” (errors concerning the facts, plot, characters, concepts, or words of the assignment) and vague generalities.  Such writing is one of the few ways to fail a response paper, whether you used AI to generate it or wrote it yourself.

Building on your watching and writing, discussion is also very important for your learning in this class.  In general, my approach to class discussion is to begin by posing a question or problem, then to have us brainstorm lots of ideas together in response to the opening question/problem, then to move to evaluating the ideas that we’ve brainstormed, and finally to come to a consensus, as a class, about the best answers/solutions to the opening question/problem.  Your input to the discussion is absolutely critical.  Even though I may have taught some of the materials in this class many, many times before, no two classes have ever had exactly the same discussion about them.  Different classes come up with different ideas, different solutions, different approaches.  As the professor, I’m not looking for one idea or one solution or one approach in particular.  I want us to think things through together – to throw out as many ideas as possible, to test and evaluate those ideas against the evidence of the material in front of us, and to draw the best conclusions that we can.  We all learn so much by working together in a free and open discussion to answer a question or solve a problem.  I learn so much from your fresh perspectives, and you learn so much from each other.  But this means that our class discussions always depend on your preparedness (how thoroughly and thoughtfully you’ve done your assigned homework) and on your courage (how willing you are to take risks, brainstorm, and share ideas – even when your ideas are only half-baked).  I can’t make a good discussion happen.  Only you all can do that.  I can work to create a classroom space that feels safe, and I can pose provocative questions for us to discuss, but a good discussion – along with the incredible learning that comes from it – only happens if you all come to class prepared and willing to join in.

GOALS.  In this course, you will learn

      1. to grow ever more responsible for and independent in your own learning,
      2. to analyze how creative texts, artworks, or performances reflect, shape, exalt, or challenge the values of a culture (Literary, Visual, or Performing Arts goal in the CORE),
      3. to explain the social construction of gender and sexuality, and critically evaluate norms and practices of identity formation at interpersonal or wider levels (the Gender & Sexuality goal in the CORE),
      4. to identify and explain norms, values, and practices across different societies or regions to critically evaluate worldviews (the Global Perspectives goal in the CORE),
      5. to be more aware of, question, and enrich your basic assumptions about gender and culture,
      6. to identify and characterize some of the constructions of gender specific to East Asian TV dramas,
      7. to have a greater appreciation for the variety of East Asian cultures and languages, and
      8. to write effectively in multiple modalities (e.g., academic papers, social media, newspapers, business communications), in different genres (e.g., scholarly essay, blog, press release, readers’ report, book review, business memo), for different audiences (e.g., scholarly, general, business).

In addition, this course addresses the following goals for the School of Humanities & Social Sciences and the English major:

#1 Written Communication
#5 Critical Analysis and Reasoning:  Ability to critique the arguments of others in the discipline and the construction of one’s own arguments in the discipline, using data/evidence as a focus of instruction and/or the ability to analyze linguistic and cultural patterns
#7 Interpret Language and Symbol
#12 Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of critical, generic, and literary traditions (including recent theoretical approaches) that shape – and are shaped by – literary discourses and texts of particular periods or movements
#14 Students will be able to identify historically specific elements relevant to a particular text
#15 Students will be able to read a literary work and characterize its main aesthetic, structural, and rhetorical strategies in an argumentative, thesis-driven essay or in a writing workshop

REQUIREMENTS.  For this course, you must complete the following graded assignments:

      1. six two-page response papers (together worth 15% of your final grade),
      2. a midterm exam (worth 15% of your final grade),
      3. a cumulative, comprehensive final exam (25%),
      4. one academic essay (25%), and
      5. a group social media campaign (20%).

Your final grade will be based on the following scale:  A = 93%-100%, A- = 90%-92%, B+ = 87%-89%, B = 83%-86%, B- = 80%-82%, C+ = 77%-79%, C = 73%-76%, C- = 70%-72%, D+ = 67%-69%, D = 60%-66%, and F = below 60%.  This scale is absolute.  Because the response papers are in a sense a form of extra credit built into this course from the start, I do not give extra credit at the end of the semester to help students raise their grade even a whisker.  So, even if, at the end of the semester, you are just .0001 points away from an A-, your final grade will be a B+.

RESPONSE PAPERS.  In the course of the term, you are required to submit six short, informal papers (about 2 pages each) on the assignments for class.  You may choose for which days you want to write a response paper, as long as you have completed six response papers by the end of the term.  You must, however, submit at least one response paper before the midterm exam.  If you have not submitted at least one response paper by then, you will receive a zero that you cannot make up as one of your six response paper grades.

For each response paper, choose one of the following topics and analyze the assignment for the day with respect to the topic you’ve chosen:

      1. Masculinity. How is masculinity constructed in the assigned episodes?  What seem to be the assumptions about what is properly masculine?  What seem to be the assumptions about the strengths and weaknesses of masculinity?  Which characters seem to be rewarded for behaving in a properly masculine way?  What kind of behavior is rewarded?  Which characters seem to be punished for behaving in an unmasculine or improperly masculine way?  What kind of behavior is punished?  Are any behaviors viewed as properly or naturally masculine but nonetheless punished or viewed negatively?  What behaviors that are viewed as properly or naturally masculine are portrayed in a particularly positive light?  How does the construction of masculinity in the assigned episodes compare to that in earlier TV shows assigned in class?
      2. Femininity. How is femininity constructed in the assigned episodes?  What seem to be the assumptions about what is properly feminine?  What seem to be the assumptions about the strengths and weaknesses of femininity?  Which characters seem to be rewarded for behaving in a properly feminine way?  What kind of behavior is rewarded?  Which characters seem to be punished for behaving in an unfeminine or improperly feminine way?  What kind of behavior is punished?  Are any behaviors viewed as properly or naturally feminine but nonetheless punished or viewed negatively?  What behaviors that are viewed as properly or naturally feminine are portrayed in a particularly positive light?  How does the construction of femininity in the assigned episodes compare to that in earlier TV shows assigned in class?
      3. Queering. How might the assigned episodes be engaging – intentionally or unintentionally – in the queering of gender roles and expectations?  In what ways do the assigned episodes – intentionally or unintentionally – defy heterosexual norms or draw attention to the impossibility of strict gender boundaries?  Which characters might be viewed as queer – as nonconforming, nonbinary, or motivated by homosocial/homosexual desire?  How do the assigned episodes – consciously or unconsciously – subvert or dismantle the structures of gender power and privilege?  How does the queering of gender in the assigned episodes compare to that in earlier TV shows assigned in class?
      4. Gender Politics. How might the assigned episodes be engaging – intentionally or unintentionally – in gender politics?  How do the assigned episodes portray power relations between men and women?  In what ways are those power relations portrayed as proper or improper?  What do the assigned episodes imply (or maybe even state explicitly) about what proper power relations ought to be between men and women?  How might the assigned episodes’ portrayal and perspective concerning gender power relations be translated into a position on gender politics generally?  What do the assigned episodes seem to be saying about how power should be organized in the world when it comes to gender?  How does the gender politics in the assigned episodes compare to that in earlier TV shows assigned in class?
      5. Gender Policing. How is the policing of gender portrayed in the assigned episodes?  Is the policing of gender seen as a matter of individuals enforcing their personal standards or as a function of systemic pressures?  Is the policing of gender viewed as a personal matter (something that individuals just decide and enforce individually) or as a systemic pattern (part of a system of expectations and norms that pressure people, regardless of whether any particular individual is enforcing them at any given moment)?  How does the policing of gender in the assigned episodes compare to that in earlier TV shows assigned in class?
      6. Colonialism. How might the assigned episodes be reflecting or challenging the influence of colonialism on gender?  In what ways does American military, political, and cultural influence, for example, permeate or constrict concepts of gender in the episodes?  Where do you see that influence?  Where do you see resistance to it?  In what ways, do the assigned episodes attempt to define gender in uniquely Korean, Taiwanese, or Chinese terms in contrast to American expectations?  In what ways do they hybridize their own cultural standards and American influences, creating a new, exciting, conflicted, or challenging perspective?  South Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China have very different relationships with the U.S. and its culture.  How does the response to colonialism and its influence on gender in the assigned episodes compare to that in earlier TV shows assigned in class, especially TV shows from a different country?
      7. Intersectionality. In what ways are characters in the assigned episodes nodes of intersectionality?  What advantages and disadvantages – i.e., privileges and discrimination – flow from a character’s interlocking identities (including gender, class, sexuality, appearance, religion, disability, etc.)?  Are some characters portrayed as reaping advantages because of one aspect of their identity at the same time as they suffer disadvantages because of another aspect?  Do some characters suffer even greater disadvantages than usual because of stereotypes or discrimination based specifically on the combination of two or more aspects of their identity?  How is gender constructed in interaction with other aspects of a character’s identity?  How does class influence the construction of masculinity or femininity, for example?  How does the intersectionality in the assigned episodes compare to that in earlier TV shows assigned in class?

Keep in mind that some topics are more relevant to some assignments than others (and some topics aren’t relevant at all to some assignments).  Don’t choose to focus on a topic for an assignment for which that topic is irrelevant.

You should submit each response paper by “sharing” it with me as a Google Doc before class on the assigned day.  Be sure to grant me “editing” or “commenting” status when you share the Google Doc with me (so that I can comment directly on the paper).  Please note that, when you do a response paper, you are writing about the assignment for the day on which you’re submitting the paper. So, you’re writing about the assignment before we discuss it in class and submitting the paper before the class meeting for which that assignment is assigned. You can’t submit a response paper about a past day’s assignment.

The purpose of the response papers is

      1. to help you in your preparation for class discussion,
      2. to allow you to try out new and different ideas in a safe, low-stress space,
      3. to help me see where you’re struggling with the concepts and assignments in class,
      4. to help you reinforce and expand on what you’re learning in class, and
      5. to help you develop your intellectual independence and confidence.

In order to accomplish these goals, you really need to write your response papers yourself without the help of AI, so you are not allowed to use AI of any kind for any assistance with the writing of response papers – not for brainstorming, not for the actual writing, not even for checking grammar and punctuation.

Response papers are graded Pass/Fail, so they need not be a perfect, polished product (and so there’s no need to use AI assistants, such as Grammerly, to polish them).  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response.  Think about one of the topics above that I have asked you to consider; then write a response.  Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Don’t worry about answering every question I ask under a particular topic.  In fact, focus on the one question that seems most interesting to you, and be as specific as you can, getting down as much as you can, as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more like a journal entry than like a formal paper.  I don’t want a five-paragraph theme.  Rather, I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the assignment for the day.  But don’t focus too narrowly on just one scene or episode from the assignment.  Try to generalize about the assignment and then look at specific examples from all over to support your generalization.

Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it before class on the assigned day), you will receive all the points that the response paper is worth.  You may submit more than six response papers in the course of the semester (to make up for any response papers that do not pass), but no matter how many extra response papers you turn in, you will not receive credit for more than six total (and if you do not submit at least one response paper before the midterm exam, you will receive a zero that you cannot make up as one of your six response paper grades).  You may not submit more than one response paper for a single day’s assignment, nor may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class.  But you may submit more than one response paper on the same TV series if there are multiple assignments spread over multiple days for that series.  The response papers should then each be on the specific assignment for each specific day.  NOTE: You may not submit a response paper for a day without a specific homework assignment for class (e.g., exam days or the first day of class).  ALSO NOTE: Even if you do not submit a response paper on a particular day, you should still come to class prepared to discuss the response paper topics in relation to the assignment for the day, since we will focus on these topics in our in-class discussions all semester.  In other words, the response paper topics above are a great guide for your class prep and studying every day, even when you’re not writing a response paper.

EXAMS.  The exams in this course are an assessment of how well you are learning, understanding, and retaining the material in class.  The exams assess your retention of important character names, settings, critical terms, and concepts by asking you to identify and describe them.  The exams also test whether you remember specific scenes that were important in our class discussions and the reason(s) that they were important (i.e., what concepts, themes, or meanings we discussed in relation to them).  The exams also offer you the opportunity to draw together the different strands of what you’ve been learning in class in an essay that asks you to look broadly at overarching themes and ideas.  The exams will be open-note.

The midterm exam is mostly a sort of trial run for the final exam – to give you an experience, partway through the semester, of what the final exam will be like (so that you can better see what will be expected of you on the final).

ACADEMIC PAPER.  Choose one TV series from the list below:

      • Hotel del Luna (2019) – Yeo Jin-goo, Lee Ji-eun,
      • Lighter & Princess (2022) – Chen Feiyu, Zhang Jingyi,
      • Twenty Five Twenty One (2022) – Nam Joo-hyuk, Kim Tae-ri,
      • Forecasting Love and Weather (2022), or
      • Such a Good Love (2025) – Wang An Yu, Wang Yu Wen.

In a paper of 4-6 pages, argue a clear, specific, interesting thesis about the way in which the series treats gender.  As you think about your thesis, consider how the series fits or doesn’t fit with other series from the same year or similar years or how your chosen series copies or contrasts with the patterns and formulas of earlier series.  Do not write vaguely about a broad topic or say anything and everything that you think about the series.  Be sure to distill your thoughts into a clear, specific thesis, focused very narrowly on one concrete claim that you are arguing in your paper.  I recommend that you consider focusing on one of the response paper topics in your thesis.  You may compare and contrast your chosen series with the shows that we’ve discussed in class, but to avoid becoming too vague and general, I recommend that you limit yourself primarily to one show from class.

You need not use any sources for this paper other than the TV series that you’re discussing (and any series from class that you’re using for comparison).  In fact, I would encourage you not to use other sources (because I’d rather hear what you think than what some published scholar, reviewer, or AI bot thinks).  But if you do use any other sources (whether scholarly, online, or AI) for ANYTHING (an idea, a piece of background information, an overall perspective, a phrase or wording, a grammar check), be sure to cite and document those sources appropriately (in notes or with a “Works Cited” page).  If you use AI to assist you in any way, explain how you used it IN DETAIL in a note at the end of your paper.  Check out the APA’s “How to Cite ChatGPT” or the MLA’s “How do I cite generative AI in MLA style” for guidelines on how to do this.  If you fail to cite sources or AI that you used, you are violating academic integrity.  You do not need a “Works Cited” page or other documentation just for the TV series if that’s all you’re using.  Simply cite specific scenes that you discuss by episode and time in parentheses.

Your paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

      1. Does the paper have a clear, specific thesis?  Does the thesis offer an interesting perspective or “hook” that is provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
      2. Does the paper’s analysis progress logically?  Does the paper have a clear and consistent overall organization that relates all the ideas of the paper together in support of the thesis (rather than simply a list of random ideas without relation to one another or to the thesis)?  Does the paper have appropriate transitions to aid the reader in following the paper’s logic (rather than weak transitions, such as “The first…,” “Another…,” and “…also…”)?
      3. Are the paper’s paragraphs properly developed – neither too long and wandering nor too short and deficient?  Are the topics of the individual paragraphs suitably narrow and focused on a single claim rather than vague and broad?  Once a paragraph gets specific about anything, does it stay focused on that topic to the end?
      4. Does the paper provide relevant, concrete evidence (including brief quotations from the TV shows) and logically persuasive reasons for every assertion?
      5. Does the paper analyze gender appropriately – with insight and sophistication, based in what we have learned and discussed in class?
      6. Does the paper show sensitivity to the cultural specificity and difference of the TV series under consideration without generalizing vaguely or broadly about another culture?
      7. Does the paper exhibit confidence and insight when analyzing a series not discussed in class?
      8. Does the introduction to the paper offer an interesting, helpful preview of the content, logic, and organization of the paper?
      9. Is factual information in the paper accurate?
      10. Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, and appropriate to an academic setting?

I encourage you, about a week before the paper is due, to submit a thesis paragraph (a draft of the first paragraph of your paper or just a paragraph that describes what you plan to write about) by “sharing” it with me as a Google Doc (making sure to give me “editing” or “suggesting” status, so that I can comment directly on your paragraph).  If you do so by the date noted in the course schedule below, I will give you feedback on your proposed thesis.  If you submit a thesis paragraph later than the date noted in the schedule, I will try to get you feedback as quickly as possible, but I cannot guarantee that I’ll be able to get you the feedback fast enough to be of use to you before the essay itself is due.

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN.  A few weeks into the semester, I will randomly assign you to groups in Canvas.  In your assigned groups, put together a plan and content for a social media campaign on gender and East Asian TV dramas.  The campaign should be designed to be used by the English Department on its Facebook or Instagram account.

You are responsible, with your group, for

      • identifying a specific audience to target,
      • figuring out a strategy for reaching that audience and helping it to find and follow your campaign,
      • deciding on a topic and goal(s) for the campaign,
      • choosing a platform for it (i.e., the English Department’s Facebook or Instagram),
      • scheduling a calendar of regular postings,
      • generating original content of your own, and
      • providing curated content from other sources.

At different points in the semester (as noted in the course schedule below and in Canvas), you will submit these elements.  You are not responsible for actually executing your campaign (although good campaigns may be executed by the English Department) or for tracking performance or assessing the effectiveness of the campaign (if you were in fact to execute it on your own).

For information about how to put together a social media campaign, I recommend the following resources:

  1. Each person in the group will be graded individually according to the following criteria:
      1. Did you as an individual contribute meaningfully and thoughtfully to the campaign’s content?  Did you contribute meaningfully to its overall planning and shape?
      2. Does the campaign have a clear, specific, and reasonable audience, topic, goal(s), platform, and calendar?  Do the audience, topic, goal(s), platform, and calendar make sense on their own and in relation to each other?  Are they well thought out and explained in a concise, focused, persuasive manner?
      3. Is the campaign’s content presented in a way that is creative and appealing?  Would the format of the content’s presentation be likely to engender interest in the target audience and to achieve the campaign’s goal(s)?  Is there a creative, interesting “hook” to the campaign’s presentation strategy that is inviting and provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
      4. Does the campaign both use original, newly-created content and provide curated content from other sources?  Is the campaign’s curated content reliable and valuable?  Is the campaign’s original content interesting and insightful?
      5. Is factual information in the campaign’s content accurate?
      6. Is the writing in the campaign’s content clear, effective, and appropriate to a social media setting?

Please note that, if you use images in your project’s final content (as you should), the images should be photos that you took yourself or should be in the public domain. You should not “steal” images that are copyrighted or owned by other people. If you’re unsure whether an image is really available free for use, cite the source of the image by adding a full and proper citation to the image itself or by providing the citation in a caption to the image.

Also note that, if you use generative AI in any capacity during the preparation of your social media campaign (to brainstorm ideas, create images, write content, or check grammar), you should cite the AI as a source.  Check out the APA’s “How to Cite ChatGPT” or the MLA’s “How do I cite generative AI in MLA style” for guidelines on how to do this.

LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM.  A quarter-unit (one-credit) Languages Across the Curriculum independent study may be added to this course for students who have intermediate level proficiency in Chinese or Korean and who wish to complement the work in this course by utilizing their language skills. Students should complete this google form (https://forms.gle/syfTjQ5BkzvXGVbS7) by Monday, February 2 to request to be enrolled in the LAC independent study. Please contact LAC Program Director Dr. Holly Didi-Ogren (holly.didi-ogren@tcnj.edu) with any questions.

PROFESSOR’S AVAILABILITY.  My office is Bliss Hall 216.  My in-person office hours this term are 2-5:30pm on Mondays.  If you have questions about class (or just want to talk about stuff), feel free to stop by during these hours (no appointment necessary).  I can also meet over Zoom during my office hours if that’s more convenient for you; just let me know, and I’ll send you a Zoom invitation.  If you cannot meet during my regularly scheduled office hours, talk to me about meeting at another time, and we can set up an appointment.  Outside of class, you may contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu) or by calling my office phone (609-771-2106) and leaving a message (if I do not answer), but email is usually the best way to get in touch with me.  You may also leave a written message for me in my box at the English Department offices in Bliss Hall 124.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for your graded work.  If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of information for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If, however, you positively must miss a class, I expect you to find out from a classmate what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting.  If you must miss an in-class, graded assignment due to a religious holiday, let me know ahead of time, and we will arrange a way for you to make up the assignment.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.  Academic dishonesty is any attempt by a student to gain academic advantage through dishonest means, to submit, as your own, work which has not been done by you, or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment. Such dishonesty would include, but is not limited to, submitting as your own a project, paper, report, test, or speech copied, partially copied, or paraphrased from the work of another (whether AI-generated, in print, on the Internet, or another student’s work). Credit must always be given for words quoted or paraphrased and for ideas or information taken from somewhere else. The rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral.  Please, please, please, if you need help with an assignment, let me know rather than resort to cheating.

ACCOMMODATIONS.  The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability. The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community. If you require such accommodations, I will make every reasonable effort to meet your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities are respected.  Go to the website of the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) for more information about how to arrange for accommodations.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. We are all enriched by greater diversity, and we all bring different perspectives to this class. I want to create a learning environment that supports diversity and honors your identities and perspectives (including your race, gender, sexuality, social class, religion, mental and physical health, differing abilities, politics, etc.). If, for example, you go by a name and/or set of pronouns that differ from those that appear in your official records, please let me know. If you feel that your performance in class is being impacted outside of class by a hostile environment related to your identity, please don’t hesitate to talk to me. If something is said or posted in class (by anyone, including me) that you consider hostile or offensive to your identity, please talk to me about it. I will expect our whole class (including me) to strive always to honor every form of diversity.  See also TCNJ’s statement on inclusive excellence at https://inclusion.tcnj.edu/inclusive-excellence-statement/.

SCREENS.  Unless required as an accommodation for a physical or mental disability, you may not use screens (laptops, phones, or ipads) during this class.  In the last ten years, there has been a ton of research that shows that screens are bad for learning – that you are less likely to remember what happens in class if you take notes on an electronic device rather than with pen and paper, that you are less likely to comprehend and remember what you read if you read it on a screen rather than in a printed format, that you are more likely to be distracted and miss things in class if you use an electronic device during class time.  I am not a Luddite (someone who despises all technology); I love my screens and use them a lot.  But I have watched a lot of students, especially over the last few years, perform much worse in my classes than they could (or should) have performed, because they used screens for taking notes and reading.  And my anecdotal experience with students over the last decade is nothing in comparison with the towering tsunami of research that shows just how bad screens are for learning in the classroom.

For that reason, you may not use any electronic devices during this class. Note that, when we need to watch scenes from assigned TV episodes in class, I will play what we need on the large screen at the front of the room.  You will not need your own screen for playing scenes.  Keep in mind that, if you want to refer to a particular scene or dialogue in class, you should always note down ahead of time at what exact point within the episode that scene/dialogue occurs (so that I can find it quickly and, if necessary, play it for everyone).

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND COMMITMENT TO STUDENT SUCCESS, SAFETY, AND WELL-BEING.  The TCNJ community is dedicated to the success, safety, and well-being of each student. TCNJ strictly follows key policies that govern all TCNJ community members’ rights and responsibilities in and out of the classroom. In addition, TCNJ has established several student support offices that can provide the support and resources to help students achieve their personal and professional goals and to promote health and well-being. You can find more information about these policies and resources at the “TCNJ Student Support Resources and Classroom Policies” webpage at https://academicaffairs.tcnj.edu/tcnj-syllabus-resources/.

Students who anticipate and/or experience barriers in this course are encouraged to contact the instructor as early in the semester as possible. The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) is available to facilitate the removal of barriers and to ensure reasonable accommodations. For more information about ARC, please visit https://arc.tcnj.edu/.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  The schedule below is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor.  Changes in the schedule made after the first day of class will be shown in red.

Date Assignment/Topic
T Jan 27 Introductions
F Jan 30 Episodes 1-5 of Autumn’s Concerto (2009) – Vanness Wu, Ady An
T Feb 3 Episodes 1-4 of Cheese in the Trap (2016) – Park Hae-jin, Kim Go-eun
F Feb 6 Episodes 5-8 of Cheese in the Trap
T Feb 10 Episodes 9-12 of Cheese in the Trap
F Feb 13 Episodes 13-16 of Cheese in the Trap
T Feb 17 Episodes 1-4 of Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (2017) – Park Hyung-sik, Park Bo-young
F Feb 20 Episodes 5-8 of of Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon
T Feb 24 Episodes 9-12 of of Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon
F Feb 27 Episodes 13-16 of of Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon
T Mar 3 MIDTERM EXAM
F Mar 6 Episodes 8-12 of Hidden Love (2023) – Chen Zheyuan, Zhao Lusi
T Mar 10 Episodes 13-17 of Hidden Love
F Mar 13 Episodes 18-21 of Hidden Love
T Mar 17 NO CLASS (Spring Break)
F Mar 20 NO CLASS (Spring Break)
T Mar 24 Episodes 22-25 of Hidden Love
Thesis paragraph for ACADEMIC ESSAY due as a shared Google Doc by 11:59pm
F Mar 27 Episodes 1-4 of Something in the Rain (2018) – Jung Hae-in and Son Ye Jin
M Mar 30 last day to withdraw with a W or to request ungraded option
T Mar 31 NO CLASS (I’m away at the Sigma Tau Delta conference)
ACADEMIC ESSAY DUE in Canvas by 11:59pm
F Apr 3 Episodes 5-8 of Something in the Rain
T Apr 7 Episodes 9-12 of Something in the Rain
F Apr 10 Episodes 13-16 of Something in the Rain
DRAFT SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN PLAN DUE in Canvas by 11:59pm
T Apr 14 Episodes 1-5 of Best Choice Ever (2024) – Xu Kai, Yang Zi
F Apr 17 Episodes 6-10 of Best Choice Ever
FINAL SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN PLAN DUE in Canvas by 11:59pm
T Apr 21 Episodes 11-15 of Best Choice Ever
F Apr 24 Episodes 16-20 of Best Choice Ever
T Apr 28 NO CLASS (Celebration of Student Achievement)
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN CONTENT and PERSONAL NARRATIVE DUE in Canvas before 11:59pm
F May 1 Episodes 1-4 of Summer Strike (2022) – Im Si-wan, Kim Seol-hyun
T May 5 Episodes 5-8 of Summer Strike
F May 8 Episodes 9-12 of Summer Strike
FINAL EXAM PERIOD FINAL EXAM