Media Criticism Syllabus, Fall 2008

Fall 2008

MEDIACRITICISM

Dr. Gerald Lucas [email protected] http://litmuse.net HUMN 3460.01 Tues 5:30-7:50p H/SS-122

HUMN 3460 Media Criticism Dr. Gerald Lucas

Introduction This course is designed as the first part of a sequence with HUMN 4460 Senior Seminar in New Media and will provide a foundation for further study by equipping students with the skills required to interpret and analyze various media forms, especially photographic, cinematic, and televisual texts. Students will examine film and television as visual media, cultural forces, and economic institutions. Primary attention will be paid to how the fundamental elements of media combine to create meaning and tell stories,

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the forms media texts take, and the way these structures in turn influence viewers/listeners. The course will also explore what media is and why various media forms have developed in certain ways through history and across nations. By the end of the term students should be able to demonstrate a working knowledge of the terms and concepts underlying contemporary media studies, the economic, social, and political impact of the media industries, and the implications of the ongoing advances of computers and information technologies.

Materials The following books are required for the class; be sure to bring them to class everyday reading is assigned from them (no excuses): ‣ Gill Branston and Roy Stafford (eds.). The Media Student’s Book, Fourth Edition. 2006. ‣ Paul Marris and Sue Thornham (eds). Media Studies: A Reader, Second Edition. 1999. And I recommend the following to compliment your study of media: ‣ Raymond Williams. Keywords, Revised Edition. 1983. Continued on page 3

MEDIACRITICISM Fall 2008

REQUIREMENTS There are three major requirements for Media Criticism, each of which must be successfully completed to pass the course. Assignments are weighed on a point system, depending on their importance. For example, a reading quiz might have 10 points while the final exam might have 200.

Final Exam A final cumulative exam will be given that will test your knowledge of the subject matter (texts, lecture material, and vocabulary), your ability to synthesize this material, and your creativity in going beyond the discussion and lecture materials. The final exam will include vocabulary, identification, and interpretation. All exam grades will be based upon objective knowledge of the material, thoroughness, depth of insight, precision, and originality.

Writing To get you thinking more critically about the major issues covered, you are required to respond to class readings in writing both formally and informally. All writing should be thoughtful, refer to specific portions of the text, use the critical vocabulary, and cite correctly using MLA citation method. FORUM Informal forum responses will be written online on LitMUSE, so the entire class can benefit from reading your thoughts. The forum will also give you a

“All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values” Marshall McLuhan

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chance to respond to others’ ideas. Your writing in the forum should total at least 350 words per week and directly address the weeks’ subject matter. WEB SITE Three times (see Schedule) during the semester, you will have to contribute the class web site. For this, you will pick your best forum and/or daily work, revise it, and submit it in a more formal way (including citations) to a class web site.

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” Malcolm X

Daily Work Regular class attendance, question posing, and active participation in classroom discussions are required. Participation, effort, and attitude will count significantly in this course. Quizzes, other class activities, and homework assignments and ad hoc projects not explicitly outlined above will be considered daily work.

MEDIACRITICISM Fall 2008

Policies

“Cinema, radio, television, magazines are a school of inattention: people look without seeing, listen in without hearing.”

You will be accountable for knowing and practicing each of these policies. Consider them like the law: the excuse “I didn’t know” will carry no weight.

Assignments Your work represents you. Therefore, I expect everything you turn into me to exemplify the very best of your professional self. Please proofread all writing before submission.

Robert Bresson

Attendance Attendance will be taken at every class meeting. If you come in late, it is your responsibility to inform me of your presence that day. If you fail to do so, you are absent. Two tardies count as one absence. There are no “excused absences” in my class, but you are allowed to miss one class before your grade suffers. Each additional class missed beyond the allotted one will result in your final semester’s grade being dropped one letter.

Deadlines Late work is not acceptable and will receive a zero. Technical, computer malfunctions are not acceptable excuses for late work. Quizzes and in-class activities cannot be made up for any reason.

Email The best and quickest way of contacting me is via email. Only use the email address that I provided on this document for class business: <[email protected]>.

Grades

Letter grades are based upon a tradimore information on avoiding plagiational ten-point scale. If you would like to rism. know your official grade, you should see Special Needs me during my office hours or make an Any student who has special needs the appointment. Counseling and Career Center and fill Plagiarism out the appropriate paperwork. Any time you use ideas that are not your Technology own — be they paraphrased or copied Computer competency is an integral verbatim — in anything that you write, skill in any discipline. Students should be you must supply a citation in MLA forfamiliar with the general uses of a commat. Willful plagiarism will result in automatic failure of this class and will be puter and should be willing to put forth submitted to the Dean for further poten- the effort to learn what they need to in order to succeed in the course. tial consequences. See for

Materials

Electronics

(cont. from page 1)

Materials, like cell phones, food, magazines, iPods, etc., should be left in your car. If you answer a cell phone in my class, I will expect you to leave. In addition, I do not allow class discussions to be taped, so do not bring any voice recording devices to class. You may use laptops unless I ask you not to bring them.

LitMUSE You are required to have an account on LitMUSE, the server that will support all of your work in this class. As a part of this requirement, you should have access to a computer with Internet capability and a current web browser, like Firefox.

Pen and Paper “The problem with communication ... is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”

George Bernard Shaw

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You should also bring an ink interface of some sort, as well as dead trees on which to take notes. You should not sit in class like you’re watching TV: take notes.

Rated PG-13 Finally, since class lecture and discussion will often touch on the controversial, this college classroom is not an appropriate place for children.

MEDIACRITICISM Fall 2008

“In describing today's accelerating changes, the media fire blips of unrelated information at us. Experts bury us under mountains of narrowly specialized monographs. Popular forecasters present lists of unrelated trends, without any model to show us their interconnections or the forces likely to reverse them. As a result, change itself comes to be seen as anarchic, even lunatic.” Alvin Toffler

SCHEDULE This schedule reflects only an overview of readings and assignments, but does not always indicate other specific class session assignments or activities. See LitMUSE. Last revised: August 14, 2008 6:15 AM. Week 1 (8/19): Intro & Overview

Week 9 (10/14): Music Industry

Exam

Week 2 (8/26): Key Concepts

Chpt. 7 Industries (MSB 257-267); Chpt. 13 Distribution (MSB 416-436); “Courtney Love Does the Math”; Film: Money for Nothing

Tuesday, 12/9, 6-8:50pm

Chpt. 1 Interpreting Media (MSB 9-40); Fiske “The Codes of Television” (MS 220-230) Week 3 (9/2): Narrative as Structure

Chpt. 2 Narratives (MSB 41-73); Ellis “Broadcast TV Narration” (MS 238-244); Williams “Programming as Sequence or Flow” (MS 231-237) Week 4 (9/9): Genres & Other Conventions

Chpt. 3 Genres and Other Classifications (MSB 74-102); Richard Dyer “The Roles of Stereotypes” (MS 245-251) Week 5 (9/16): Representation & Race

Chpt. 5 Questions of Representation (MSB 141-173); Hall “Race Ideologies and the Media” (MS 271-282); Color Adjustment [dir. Marlon Riggs, 1991] Week 6 (9/23): Representation Cont.

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Week 10 (10/21): Advertising

Advertising (MSB 296-328 & MS 699703); Nava and Nava “Discrimination or Duped?” (MS 766-774); Malcolm Gladwell, “The Coolhunt”: Film: Merchants of Cool Week 11 (10/28): TV News

Section 6 “News” (MS 627-696) Intro and all essays in section; Chpt. 6 Ideologies and Power: Case Study: News (MSB 194-206); WEB SITE SUBMISSION 2 DUE Week 12 (11/4): TV “Reality”

Chpt. 14 Documentary and ‘reality TV’ (MSB 455-478) Week 13 (11/11): Audience & Reception

Squire “Empowering Women? The Oprah Winfrey Show” (MS 354-367); WEB SITE SUBMISSION 1 DUE

“Section 4:2 The Politics of Reading” (MS 467-515) Intro and all essays in section; Chpt. 8 Audiences (MSB 268-296)

Week 7 (9/30): Culture & Ideology

Week 14 (11/18): Fan Culture & Recoding

Chpt. 6 Ideologies and Power (MSB 174-206); “The Media and Social Power Introduction” (MS 5-17)

Jenkins “’Strangers no More, We Sing,’ . . . ” (MS 547-556); Hermes “Media, Meaning and everyday Life” (MS 557-564)

Week 8 (10/7): The Culture Industries

Week 15 (11/25): Birth of New Media

Chpt. 7 Industries (MSB 207-257);

Adorno “Culture Industry Reconsidered” (MS 31-37)

Notes

TBA

Week 16 (12/2): Review

WEB SITE SUBMISSION 3 DUE

Dr. Gerald R. Lucas http://litmuse.net/ [email protected] Office: H/SS-117 Office Hours: MW 11-12; T 4-5