MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

VSA4600

Film, culture, class

D Hanan

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 (2500 words): 33% + Long essay (5000 words): 66%

Prescribed texts

• Austin-Broos D Creating culture Allen and Unwin, 1987
• Bennet T and Woolacott J Bond and beyond: The political career of a popular hero Macmillan, 1987
• Bateson G Steps to an ecology of mind Paladin, 1973
• Curran J and others Mass communication and society Edward Arnold, 1977
• Easthope A and McGowan K A critical and cultural theory reader Allen and Unwin, 1993
• Hanan D (ed.) Course reader for film, culture class Dept Visual Arts, Monash U, 1993
• Hockings P (ed.) Principles of visual anthropology Mouton, 1975
• Michaels E For a cultural future Artspace, 1987
• Sen K Histories and stories: Cinema in new order Indonesia Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Monash U, 1988
• Williams P and Chrisman L Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory: A reader Columbia U P, 1994