Narratives and representations
Mary Griffiths
8 points
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 second year Case study (2500 words): 45%
Assessment third year Case study (2500 words): 45%
Prescribed texts
Subject reader
Subject video
Palmer J Potboilers: Methods, concepts and case studies in popular
fiction Routledge, 1991
and two examples of popular fiction (subject to availability):
Chandler R The big sleep Random, 1988
Du Maurier D Rebecca Heinemann, 1991
* Second semester
* 3 hours per week (2 hours
lecture/screening, 1-hour tutorial)
* Gippsland/Distance
*
* Minor
assignment (2000 words): 35%
* Journal: 20%
* Minor
assignment (2000 words): 35%
* Journal: 20%
* Students will be required
to develop suitable topics for their assessment, demonstrating a wider range of
reading and a greater analytical grasp of the subject concepts.
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Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria
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Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved -
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Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996