Culture, Media and Everyday Life

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

This subject offers an introduction to contemporary cultural studies by focusing on the media and their effects in everyday life. It analyses film, television, new media, advertising and photography, considers their approaches across interacting registers of textuality, industry and social practice, and examines the relationships between these cultural forms and institutional sites and their practices in everyday life. This subject provides students with a reflexive understanding of the media's significance in contemporary cultural life and advanced critical skills through which to read and evaluate media discourses and texts. It also enables students to theorise many naturalised aspects of their own everyday media consumption in relation to the formations of identity and taste and to develop a grasp of the complex relationships between ideological formations and spectator pleasures.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

• have an introductory understanding of contemporary theories of representation;
• have an appreciation of the importance of media forms to contemporary culture;
• be familiar with the processes by which films and television texts are constructed;
• have an understanding of how narrative (and anti-narrative) work in film and television;
• have acquired relevant research skills including use of the library, referencing and presentation of written work;
• be able to apply flexible reading strategies and writing practices to the material studied;
• have a background of relevant knowledge and methodologies, both critical and theoretical, on which to base further studies in Screen and Cultural Studies.

An online multimedia essay of 1000 words 30% (due as scheduled throughout the semester), an advertisement/story-board/video (equivalent to 500 words) plus a 1000 word essay 35% (due mid-semester), an essay or video/website (equivalent to 500 words) plus a 1000 word essay 35% (due at the end of the semester). This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 75% attendance and regular participation in tutorials. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

A subject reader and CD-ROM will be available.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

• develop social, ethical and cultural understanding of self and others;

• acquire critical analysis and synthesis;

• have an effective written and oral communication;

• develop information management and information literacy;

• develop teamwork, flexibility and tolerance;

• develop time management and planning.

Students who have completed 106-101 Contemporary Culture & Media and/or 106-106 Contemporary Culture & Everyday Life are not eligible to enrol in this subject. This subject is recommended for Bachelor of Arts students wishing to complete a major in Cinema & Cultural Studies.