Media, Identity and Everyday Life

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total expected time commitment is 170 hours across the semester, including class time.

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CICU10002 Culture, Media and Everyday Life; 106-101 Culture, Media and everyday Life

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/

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.

On completion of the subject students should have:

• Have developed a critical appreciation of the significance of popular media forms in contemporary cultural and social life, in all its diversity;
• Demonstrate an introductory knowledge and understanding of contemporary theories of culture, media, identity, and everyday life;
• Have mastered relevant research skills including use of the library, e-research skills, and appropriate referencing and presentation of written work that are applied with intellectual honesty and a respect for ethical values;
• have a general understanding of selected texts, sites and practices of everyday media in selected non-Western contexts, and an appreciation of the global diversity of popular media forms and cultures;
• Appreciate national and international debates on specific contemporary issues and complex problems connected with culture, media, identity and everyday life and be able to apply this knowledge and experience to a broad range of professional and disciplinary contexts;
• Demonstrate the ability to effectively apply flexible reading strategies and writing practices in analysing contemporary media cultures.

An online multimedia blog equivalent to 1000 words (30%)

An essay of 1500 words (35%) due mid semester

A second essay of 1500 words (35%) due in the examination period

This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 80% 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 additional online resources 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.