Professor
Christopher Hanscom
2 of 3
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I took KOREA 80 virtually, and even as a virtual class I found it to be very enjoyable. You will watch 1 film per week, with a total of 10 films overall. Some of the early ones (like Spring on the Peninsula and A Stray Bullet) are pretty boring, but they certainly get better as time goes on. My personal favorite was Train to Busan, which we watched in Week 9. No, you won't be watching Parasite, but for the final you just have to watch and write about any film that's not in the syllabus, so you can choose to watch that one if you'd like. Every week you have to write a one-page response paper about the film assigned that week, and those are pretty easy. I had Minseung and I got 20/20 points on nearly every response submission. The level of engagement in this class is what you choose for it to be. In the virtual setting, Professor Hanscom's lectures were recorded and posted on CCLE, so you could watch them at any time. I think he's an engaging lecturer, but the lectures tend to feel like they're a bit longer than they need to be. You don't really need the lectures at all to do well on the response papers or writing assignments, and there were a few weeks that I ended up skipping the lectures. There's also a textbook for this class, but I promise that it is absolutely not necessary at all, and you can just save your money by not buying it. I never opened it once and still got an A in the class. Overall, I would recommend this class. It's a pretty easy A and I learned a lot of interesting stuff about Korean history and the Korean film industry.
Fall 2020 - I took KOREA 80 virtually, and even as a virtual class I found it to be very enjoyable. You will watch 1 film per week, with a total of 10 films overall. Some of the early ones (like Spring on the Peninsula and A Stray Bullet) are pretty boring, but they certainly get better as time goes on. My personal favorite was Train to Busan, which we watched in Week 9. No, you won't be watching Parasite, but for the final you just have to watch and write about any film that's not in the syllabus, so you can choose to watch that one if you'd like. Every week you have to write a one-page response paper about the film assigned that week, and those are pretty easy. I had Minseung and I got 20/20 points on nearly every response submission. The level of engagement in this class is what you choose for it to be. In the virtual setting, Professor Hanscom's lectures were recorded and posted on CCLE, so you could watch them at any time. I think he's an engaging lecturer, but the lectures tend to feel like they're a bit longer than they need to be. You don't really need the lectures at all to do well on the response papers or writing assignments, and there were a few weeks that I ended up skipping the lectures. There's also a textbook for this class, but I promise that it is absolutely not necessary at all, and you can just save your money by not buying it. I never opened it once and still got an A in the class. Overall, I would recommend this class. It's a pretty easy A and I learned a lot of interesting stuff about Korean history and the Korean film industry.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - My first quarter at UCLA was made that much better by taking a class with Professor Hanscom. Not only is he passionate about what he teaches, but extremely friendly and approachable. Going to his office hours is suggested, as he's willing to look over the group project or final paper before either are due. He'll happily let you know if you're headed in the right direction and offer advice/tips for proceeding. There's a decent amount of reading for this class, but you know what you're getting into by enrolling in any literature-based course. There are written assignments that coincide with each reading, along with presentations (at least once per quarter) and a final paper. You're made aware of this at the beginning and given ample time to prepare. English majors taking this as a "foreign literature in translation" course will likely find this to be light work!
Fall 2023 - My first quarter at UCLA was made that much better by taking a class with Professor Hanscom. Not only is he passionate about what he teaches, but extremely friendly and approachable. Going to his office hours is suggested, as he's willing to look over the group project or final paper before either are due. He'll happily let you know if you're headed in the right direction and offer advice/tips for proceeding. There's a decent amount of reading for this class, but you know what you're getting into by enrolling in any literature-based course. There are written assignments that coincide with each reading, along with presentations (at least once per quarter) and a final paper. You're made aware of this at the beginning and given ample time to prepare. English majors taking this as a "foreign literature in translation" course will likely find this to be light work!
AD
2 of 3
