Melodrama, Class and the Cinema

Subject SCRN40005 (2011)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2011.

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 4 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

Semester 2, Parkville - 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

On campus

Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: 4.5
Total Time Commitment: 120
Prerequisites: Admission to the postgraduate certificate, diploma or fourth year honours in cinema studies or gender studies, Master of Cinema Management, Master of Arts and Cultural Management (Moving Image).
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 Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Coordinator

Assoc Prof Angela Ndalianis

Contact

Mark Nicholls

markdn@unimelb.edu.au

Subject Overview:

This subject involves a study of the role that melodrama has played in the representation of class and ideological conflict in the cinema. Students are asked to examine melodramas from periods such as the silent period, the 1930s, the 1950s and contemporary cinema, from Hollywood and art cinema traditions. They will encounter theoretical writings on class and ideology in the subject's interrogation of the melodrama's tendency to expose ideological contradictions at a domestic and political level. This subject enables students to understand issues of film form, gender, the family, sexuality and psychoanalysis in relation to the melodrama's complex representation of class in the cinema.
Objectives:
  • understand the central critical considerations of the representation of class and ideological conflict in cinema melodramas from the early silent to contemporary cinema; and
  • understand the way in which issues of film form, gender, sexuality and psychoanalysis inform melodramas representation of class in the cinema.
Assessment: A research essay of 5000 words 100% (due during the examination period). Students are required to attend a minimum of 75% of classes in order to qualify to have their written work assessed. All required written work must be submitted in order to pass the subject.
Prescribed Texts:

A subject reader will be available.
Breadth Options:

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • be skilled in research;
  • possess advanced skills of critical thinking and analysis;
  • possess an ability to communicate knowledge intelligibly, economically and effectively; and
  • have an understanding of social, ethical and cultural context.
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Moving Image
Screen Studies
Screen Studies
Screen Studies
Screen and Cultural Studies

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