WMN3080

Feminism and Popular Culture: Reading Mainstream Cinema ( 6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Jane-Maree Maher

Offered:
Clayton Second semester 2005 (Day)

Synopsis: As for WMN2080

Objectives: By the successful completion of this unit, students will have acquired the following skills: 1. A grounded working knowledge of the major feminist theoretical and methodological approaches to popular culture. 2. An informed theoretical critique of how such concepts as sex, gender and romantic love are constituted in a variety of popular cultural forms. 3. An interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of popular cultural forms. 4. Library based research skills and a working knowledge of the major data-bases used in feminist cultural studies. 5. The ability to think critical and analytically, and to be able to articulate those thought processes in a high standard of written and oral expression. 6. A focus upon the production of scholarly research as the end point of a process of reading, discussion, drafting and debate. 7. The ability to work both independently as scholars and to participate actively in group projects. Third-year students will be expected to demonstrate greater capacity for independent research and will be required to answer a class test of a more conceptually challenging nature.

Assessment: 1.Bibliographic/research skills exercise (1000 words): 20%; 2.Critical Media Analysis (Class test)1hour(equiv. 1000 words): 20%; 3.Research Project (2500 words):60% Additional comment Students at levels 2 and 3 will complete qualitatively different assessment tasks linked to their year levels.

Contact Hours: 2 hours (1 hour lecture and 1 hour tutorial)

Prerequisites: Any first-year sequence

Prohibitions: WMN2080