AMES-171
WORLD OF KOREAN CINEMA
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that the readings, films, or examples carry real weight. Best for students who will engage with the materials instead of skimming everything.
DepartmentAMES
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment15–21
Semesters of data3
3.5
Hrs / week
34
Responses
53
Enrollment
64%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
3.9
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.2
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.2
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
2.9
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysishigh
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 90 comments across 3 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that the readings, films, or examples carry real weight. Best for students who will engage with the materials instead of skimming everything.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
• Readings, films, or outside materials come up repeatedly as a real strength rather than filler.
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who will engage with the materials instead of skimming everything.
Watch out for
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
Reading journals - Being able to read and understand journals about select topics at a more in-depth level. Reviewing specific cinematography choices - When I watch movies, I am now able to more specifically pick up on certain stylistic choices that a director uses to convey a message. Korean cinema / history - I am now much more aware of the history that Korea went through, the North/South divide, comfort women issue. There were so many topics that I had never been introduced to before this class.
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
- close analysis of films - films and how they tie into historic and current events - korean-american identity
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
Learned how to analyze cinema and how cinematic style affects the way we interpret films Learned about the history of Korean cinema and how history has been interpreted through it Learned about the cinematic differences between American and Korean cinema
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
Literature search in a cinema context, connecting cinema themes to real-world issues
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
I gained a lot of knowledge on the history on Korea and its relationship with the US, practice reading denser texts, and connecting information from different resources.
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | Kwon, Aimee 4.3Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.3Difficulty2.2Would retake67%Based on 5 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 3.7 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 15 |
| Fall 2024 | Kwon, Aimee 4.3Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.3Difficulty2.2Would retake67%Based on 5 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 21 |
| Fall 2023 | Kwon, Aimee 4.3Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.3Difficulty2.2Would retake67%Based on 5 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.2 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 17 |
Instructor
Kwon, AimeeAMES
Also teaches
AMES-152CNS VISUALIZING MINOR STORIES4.0AMES-609S TRANSPACIFIC ASIA/AMERICA3.8