Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis The subject will investigate two related issues: the nature of class and ideological representation in film, and the processes by which films establish and represent indigenous cultures. Areas and topics treated in the subject will include material from Western advanced capitalist societies (where it will focus on notions of popular culture), and from so-called traditional societies and the third world. The subject is primarily a reading course but reference will be made to a range of visual material, namely key texts dealing with indigenous cultures (eg Bateson and Mead's Balinese character, a photographic analysis), and film examples taken from major film industries in Asia (in particular, the Indian, Indonesian and Japanese cinemas) and from Australian, American and English film and television. Students will be expected to engage with writings in Marxism, social theory (Habermas) and anthropological theory (Bourdieu), as well as with recent film theory.
Assessment Class paper (3500 words): 33% + Long essay (6000 words): 66%