Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis This subject is a text-based study of prose narratives, film, photographic and televisual materials, and the wider social questions they raise. Students will consider how narratives demonstrate structural similarity and difference across a range of media; and how codes and conventions of representing `reality' are used to construct meaning shared by different audiences and readerships. Working from a comparison of idealist and materialist accounts of representation , the subject includes the study of a range of regimes of representation (medical, scientific, legal, pornographic); body narratives in the popular framing of contemporary issues such as AIDS or euthanasia; and a short study of examples of selected mass audience and circulation genres: gothic romance, film noir, the thriller, and other narratives of detection. Each student will be required to complete a case study across a range of print, televisual and film texts.
Assessment Case study (2000 words): 40% + Minor assignment (2000 words): 40% + Examination (2 hours): 20%