Popular Culture

Subject 106-220 (2008)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2008.Search for this in the current handbookSearch for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.500
Level: Undergraduate
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

Semester 1, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable


Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 1.5-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial per week.
Total Time Commitment: Not available
Prerequisites: 50 points of first year arts including 12.5 pts from an approved study area and completion of the first year Cultural Studies subject 106-101.
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Coordinator

Brett Farmer
Subject Overview:

This subject offers an introduction to the critical study of popular culture. It engages popular culture as a contested discursive terrain that offers substantial insights into the operations of social power in contemporary culture. By surveying a range of popular cultural formations, on the one hand, and competing critical approaches, on the other, the subject develops a comprehensive overview of how popular culture has been variably constituted in historical, social, political, and theoretical terms. With a principal focus on the mass mediated cultures of (post) industrialised modernity of film, television, popular music, magazines, comics, advertising, and cybercultures, the subject analyses the diverse values and pleasures of the popular for its multiple audiences. In particular, it looks at how such critical categories as national identity, class, ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, age, and region are shaped and reshaped in the field of contemporary global popular cultures.

Assessment: A written essay 1500 words 40% (due mid-semester), and a written essay 2500 words 60% (due at the end of semester).Note:Assessment submitted late without an approved formal extension will be penalised at 2% per day. Students who fail to submit up to 2-weeks after the final due date without a formal extension and/or special consideration will receive a fail grade for the piece of assessment.
Prescribed Texts: Prescribed Texts:A subject reader will be available from the Bookroom at the beginning of semester
Breadth Options: This subject is a level 2 or level 3 subject and is not available to new generation degree students as a breadth option in 2008.
This subject or an equivalent will be available as breadth in the future.
Breadth subjects are currently being developed and these existing subject details can be used as guide to the type of options that might be available.
2009 subjects to be offered as breadth will be finalised before re-enrolment for 2009 starts in early October.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:

  • acquire fundamental research and analytic skills;

  • develop critical and ethical self-awareness;

  • have the ability to develop and communicate effective arguments in both oral and written form;

  • acquire fundamental skills in media and information literacy and management.
Notes:

This subject can be credited as an elective subject towards the Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma in Gender Studies.
Related Course(s): Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts(Media and Communications)
Diploma in Arts (Cultural Studies)
Graduate Certificate in Arts (Cultural Studies)
Graduate Certificate in Arts (Gender Studies)
Graduate Certificate in Arts(English Literary Studies)
Graduate Diploma in Arts (Cultural Studies)
Graduate Diploma in Arts (English Literature)
Graduate Diploma in Arts (Gender Studies)

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