My research, broadly speaking, explores trends and patterns in Korean visual culture as a means of examining the symbiotic relationship between society and culture. My overarching approach can be encapsulated in the question: how does Korean culture document, fictionalize, or influence the micro-level changes that are occurring in Korean society? Adding to the rapidly growing canon of scholarship on Korean popular culture, I engage mainly with the study of films and television, while also touching on other mediums such as webtoons and experimental video artworks.

Korean cinema
K-drama
Rise of Hallyu
Diasporic cinema
Diasporic identity
Identity and cultural flows
Monsters of different cultures

Journal Articles

An, J. 2024. ‘The Mother in Kore-eda’s Broker: Striking New Reverberations in the Korean Context.’ Forthcoming in Korean Studies Journal.

An, J. 2023. ‘In Children’s Eyes: Historical and Ethnographic Value of Children Perspectives in 1960s South Korean Cinema.’ Asian Cinema 34(1), 3-19. DOI: 10.1386/ac_00060_1

An, J. 2022. ‘Introduction to Special Section: New Directions in K-Drama Studies.’ Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 14(2), 91-97. DOI: 10.1080/17564905.2022.2120280

An, J. 2022. ‘K-Drama 2.0: Updating Tropes with Intertextuality and Cinematic Visuals in Crash Landing on You.’ Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 14(2), 131-147. DOI: 10.1080/17564905.2022.2120999

An, J. 2019. ‘The Lost Childhoods of Korea: Ounie Lecomte’s A Brand New Life (2009) and Kim So-yong’s Treeless Mountain (2009).’ Cross Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review 8(1), 19-40. DOI: 10.1353/ach.2019.0001

An, J. 2019. ‘The Korean Mother in Contemporary Thriller Films: A Monster or Just Modern?’ The Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 11(2), 154-169. DOI: 10.1080/17564905.2019.1661655

Book Chapters

An, J. 2023. ‘Gender and the Paradox of Body Politics in Korean Makeover Culture.’ In Introducing Korean Popular Culture, ed. Youna Kim. London and New York: Routledge.

An, J. 2021. ‘Aliens, Mermaids, and Cartoons: Neoliberal Gender Politics in Twenty-First Century South Korean Dramas.’ In ‘We’ in an Age of ‘I’: Romance and Social Bonding in Contemporary Culture, eds. Mary Harrod, Suzanne Leonard, and Diane Negra. London and New York: Routledge, 110-126.
• Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association’s (MeCCSA) 2022 Edited Collection of the Year Award

An, J. 2016. ‘Blood is Thicker than Water, or is It? Depictions of “Alternative Families” in Contemporary Korean Cinema.’ In Korean Screen Cultures: Interrogating Cinema, TV, Music and Online Games, eds. Andrew Jackson and Colette Balmain. Bern: Peter Lang, 35-54.

Solicited Reviews and Other Invited Writings

An, J. 2023. ‘Chapter 7. Film Studies: A Case Study – Parasite.’ In Teachers’ Resource Book for EPQ on Korea, ed. Sojin Lim, Niki J.P. Alsford, and Ed Griffith. International Institute of Korean Studies UCLan, p. 48-56. https://www.docdroid.net/Hr89nxQ/teachers-resource-book-on-korea-iksu-pdf#page=2

An, J. 2018. ‘Cinema Studies: Dong Hoon Kim, Hye Seung Chung, Ji-yoon An, and N. Trace Cabot.’ In Korean Communication, Media, and Culture: An Annotated Bibliography, eds. Kyu Ho Youm and Nojin Kwak. Maryland: Lexington Books, 285-311.

An, J. 2018. Book Review of Jinsoo An’s Parameters of Disavowel: Colonial Representation in South Korean Cinema. The Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 10(2), 184-187. DOI: 10.1080/17564905.2018.1518300