units

ATS3497

Faculty of Arts

18 September 2017 22 December 2024
Monash University

Undergraduate - Unit

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

LevelUndergraduate
FacultyFaculty of Arts
OfferedNot offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)Belinda Morrissey

Synopsis

This unit approaches the study of popular narrative afresh by uncovering some ideas about popular culture - genre, mass culture, escapism, representation - that continue to limit and predetermine the analysis of popular texts. By considering how these ideas have come to inform our everyday responses to popular texts, the unit explores strategies for reading such texts in ways that challenge the critical imperative driving many analyses of popular fiction and film. Thus, the unit develops new protocols for thinking and writing about popular texts in academic, journalistic and everyday contexts. Access to on-line facilities is essential for students studying in off-campus mode.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit students will have:

  1. an understanding how popular texts mediate cultural understanding and activity
  2. a capacity to recognise how contemporary reviews of popular fiction and film are often limited by a particular history of ideas about popular culture
  3. an ability to appreciate different uses and interpretations of popular texts
  4. an ability to explore innovative ways of engaging with popular culture
  5. skills in deploy such alternative reading protocols within popular sites of cultural criticism, particularly through the popular practices of art criticism and review writing.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Chief examiner(s)

Belinda Morrissey

Prerequisites

Completion of 36 points in any discipline

Prohibitions

ATS2497, ENH2404, ENH3404, WRT2404, WRT3404