Teaching Responsibility
LJMU Schools involved in Delivery:
Humanities and Social Science
Learning Methods
Lecture
Seminar
Module Offerings
5103MEDCUL-JAN-MTP
Aims
1. To deepen and broaden student understanding of the theoretical roots underpinning the study of media, culture and communication.
2. To encourage students to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of theoretical approaches discussed throughout the module.
3. To offer students opportunities to analyse media texts and cultural practices whilst drawing upon a range of theoretical positions.
Learning Outcomes
1.
Evaluate and critique theoretical approaches relevant to the study of media, culture and communication.
2.
Develop an essay plan that acts as a foundation for the research and writing of a student-defined essay that offers a theoretically-informed analysis of a student-selected media text or cultural practice.
3.
Critically apply a given theoretical approach to a student-selected media text, cultural practice or piece of communication.
Module Content
Outline Syllabus:Indicative subjects:
Marxist approaches to media and culture; structuralist approaches to media and culture; semiotic analysis of media and culture; postmodern media culture; theorising gender in media and culture; critical race theory approaches to media & culture
Indicative case studies:
postmodern film; Gramsci and hegemony; subcultures; Barthes, mythology & advertising; feminism and femininities in media texts; hegemonic masculinity/ies; race and racism in print advertising
Module Overview:
Media and Cultural Theory offers you the opportunity to trace the theoretical roots of our subject area and to develop skills and knowledge around theorising, critique and analysis. We take key terms such as hegemony, post-feminism, structuralism and postmodernism and seek to understand how they came to be so vital to the study of media, culture and communication. We deal with core issues such as race, class, gender politics, and how media and culture are sites for the reproduction and transformation of power relations. Along the way we will offer you the opportunity to critique and apply these ideas in the theorisation and analysis of media texts and cultural practices. The module culminates with you developing an essay plan and research essay based on your own analysis and theorisation of a case study media text of your choice.
Media and Cultural Theory offers you the opportunity to trace the theoretical roots of our subject area and to develop skills and knowledge around theorising, critique and analysis. We take key terms such as hegemony, post-feminism, structuralism and postmodernism and seek to understand how they came to be so vital to the study of media, culture and communication. We deal with core issues such as race, class, gender politics, and how media and culture are sites for the reproduction and transformation of power relations. Along the way we will offer you the opportunity to critique and apply these ideas in the theorisation and analysis of media texts and cultural practices. The module culminates with you developing an essay plan and research essay based on your own analysis and theorisation of a case study media text of your choice.
Additional Information:This module aims to provide students with an overview of various theoretical perspectives and methodological tools for examining media, culture and communication. Students will be supported to interrogate these
different approaches and produce an essay that examines a self-defined media/cultural text case study using theoretical approaches explored during the module.