Medievalism in Contemporary Culture

Subject 670-324 (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: Usually 12.5 points of first year English.
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

Stephanie Trigg
Subject Overview:

This subject interrogates the persistent popularity of medieval themes and stories in contemporary film, fiction, and children's literature. It will consider some medieval narratives which inspire a tradition of revisionary re-writing, as well as modern 'inventions' of the medieval in a range of cultural forms. Through a study of the major patterns in the re-invention of medieval literature, students will be encouraged to think about what these texts reveal about the relations of modernity and postmodernity with the medieval past, and the social and political meaning of the medieval in contemporary representations.

Assessment: Students will have the choice of doing an essay of 1500 words 40% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 60% (due at the end of semester) or an essay of 4000 words 100% (due at the end of semester).
Prescribed Texts: Prescribed Texts:A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism (Maria Tatar), Norton Critical Edition The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 1, The Fellowship of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) Le Morte Darthur (Thomas Malory), 2 volumes, Penguin The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) A Tournament of Murders (Paul Doherty), St Martin's Shrek, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, A Knight's Tale, Braveheart, Robin Hood (Films)
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:

  • have the ability to develop critical self-awareness and the capacity to shape persuasive arguments;

  • have the ability to apply research skills (especially in library and on-line resources) and critical methods to an emerging field of inquiry;

  • have the ability to communicate arguments and ideas effectively and articulately, both in writing and in group discussions;

  • have achieved detailed readings of a range of texts in different media;

  • have the ability to think critically about the relations between academic and popular forms of knowledge of the past.#

Download PDF version.