TAD3209

Visual politics of popular culture

6 points
* Two 1.5 hour tutorials per week
* First semester
* Caulfield and distance
* Prerequisites: Two second-year level theory of art and design (TAD) subjects
* Prohibited combinations: TAD3207

Objectives On successful completion this subject, students should have knowledge and skills for analysing and deconstructing visual images and for perceptively analysing the various media of popular culture; possess a critical conspectus of the political framework of mass media, as well as the ethical calibre of individual examples; have awareness and understanding of their roles and responsibilities as professional communicators in contemporary culture.

Synopsis This subject deconstructs the visual language/s of popular culture by exploring the notion that film, television, magazines, fashion, advertising, comics, computer graphics and the internet, all mediums of the graphic designer, are amongst the most powerful and persuasive communicators of ideas, attitudes, beliefs and stereotypes in our contemporary world. This subject will ask the `Kruger' questions: Who speaks? Who listens? Who loses? Who profits? Who pays? Using the techniques of semiotics and contemporary theory students learn to interpret and deconstruct the significance and meaning of the various mediums of popular culture. particular emphasis is placed on examining the complex communication of combined image and text. The social, environmental, and ethical role of the graphic designer is critically examined in the light of contemporary issues and practices in Australia and overseas.

Assessment Tutorial paper: 40%
* Two essays: 60%

Prescribed texts

Barthes R Mythologies Paladin, 1973
Finkelstein J After a fashion MUP, 1996
Finkelstein J Slaves of chic: An A-Z of consumer pleasures Minerva, 1994
Hebdige D Subculture, the meaning of style Methuen, 1979
Williamson J Decoding advertisements: Ideology and meaning in advertising Boyars, 1978