Aims and Objectives

Aims and Objectives

You will be introduced to basic concepts involved in the study of media texts - 'realism', 'representation', 'narrative', genre', 'semiology', etc. - and you will consider the role of social, historical and cultural contexts in determining the presentation of the 'real' in media texts. Basic approaches to the study of the media, Structuralist, Marxist, historicist, semiological will be introduced, and by the end of the course you will have had ample opportunity to develop your skills in the reading and understanding of a wide range of media examples. The course aims could be summarised as follows:

(i) to introduce concepts, issues and critical approaches involved in the study of media texts.

(ii) to encourage you to develop skills of criticism, analysis and interpretation of media texts.

(iii) to develop your awareness and understanding of the sociological, psychological and historical aspects involved in the production, distribution and consumption of media texts.

At the end of the course I will ask you whether or not you view films and television programmes in a deeper, more critical and questioning way: if you find that you do then the module will have done what it set out to do!

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