Video Game and Anime Music Since the Year 2000 (FYS)
MUSC 134F
Fall 2025
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01
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In this course, we will focus on two of the dominant popular media forms of the twenty-first century, video games and anime (broadly defined), to approach questions about the role of music in the digital era. We will ask: what role do sound and music play in these complex audiovisual art forms? As anime's production globalizes, to what extent can it considered an exclusively Japanese product? (And conversely, how does anime's global popularity point to longstanding anxieties in the anglophone world about "the rise of Japan"?) How do video games and anime bring to the forefront important conversations about the relationship between creative arts, technology, and economic systems? And finally, who are the figures creating this music, and how does their role differ from that of pre-twenty-first century composers? The course will include two major projects: (1) an in-class midterm presentation contrasting the role of sound and music in two different media, and (2) a digital ethnographic project exploring the role of community in a particular video game or online fan space. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA MUSC |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination (Cheng 2014)
Made in Japan: Studies in Popular Music (Mitsui 2014)
Additional readings from Kiri Miller, Jennifer Milioto Matsue, Stacey Jocoy, and Alexander D.J. Brickler.
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Examinations and Assignments:
The course will include two major projects: (1) an in-class midterm presentation contrasting the role of sound and music in two different media, and (2) a digital ethnographic project exploring the role of community in a particular video game or online fan space. We will also feature weekly quizzes on readings and listenings. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Groesbeck,Garrett Brenton Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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