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First-Year Writing Seminar (101-8-20)

Topic

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ideas, Inspirations, and

Instructors

Wenhan Zhang

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-329: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ideas, Inspira9ons, and Influence

This wri9ng-intensive course focuses on the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion by the director Hideaki Anno, generally considered as one of the most celebrated works in this art form. What are the domina9ng ideas in this series, and how do they evolve? How do discourses of religion, philosophy, and psychology manifest in this series, explicitly or implicitly? How does the saga of Neon Genesis Evangelion achieve its quasi-mythical status, and what influence has it exerted on anime as a form, culturally and economically? The main goal of the course is to introduce students to the conven9ons and rigors of evidence-based argumenta9on and analysis in humanis9c forms, and we will accomplish this by surveying the original TV series of Neon Genesis Evangelion, its film sequels in the late 1990s, and its more recent Rebuild series with the previous ques9ons in mind. By also reading theore9cal works from Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Walter Benjamin, and select contemporary cultural cri9cs, we probe into and reflect upon topics that profoundly inform Anno's series as well as our daily life: the nature of desire, the dynamics of interpersonal rela9onships, the forma9on of self-consciousness, among all others.

Class Attributes

WCAS Writing Seminar