Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

Cinematic representation can often seem to be a vehicle for Western, normative models of identity. This module considers cinematic others: social others, gendered others, queer others, ethnic others, transnational others, postcolonial others. A range of films from diverse cultures will be explored, along with relevant theories of the Other.

The aims of the module are as follows:
1.       to familiarise students with cinema from diverse cultures outside Western normative models;
2.       to engage with critical debates and theories regarding the Other, particularly in cultural and filmic representation;
3.       to facilitate informed close textual analysis
4.       to develop students’ skills in research, oral/written presentation, and critical analysis

Outline Of Syllabus

The syllabus is team-taught; it consists of an opening session that introduces students to key theoretical frameworks of ‘otherness’, then four blocks that focus on specific manifestations of otherness in film, and two closing sessions: one to reinforce connections between the blocks, the other to guide students’ approach to assessment. The focus of the blocks may include some/all of the following: gender, national identity, ethnicity, class, sexuality, film genre, space, migration, becoming. Each block is taught by a different lecturer and will usually focus on 2 set films.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

At the end of the module students should be able to:

Display clear understanding of theories on the representation of the Other;
Mobilise such theories and an understanding of diverse cultural contexts in the analysis of films from European, US, North African and Latin American cultures;
Show detailed knowledge of key film texts from the above cultures

Intended Skill Outcomes

At the end of the module students should be able to:

engage in close textual analysis of films from a variety of cultures;
evaluate and apply theoretical discourses;
undertake independent research and oral presentation;
display enhanced intercultural understanding

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lecture materials will provide students with an overview at the beginning of each session, putting the topic in context, offering examples for discussion later and raising the key issues for debate.

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 11 x 2-hour scheduled seminars will take place in-person but can migrate online without undue disruption, if necessary. Student-led small group discussion aims to explore each topic in-depth and give students a space in which they can share their ideas and benefit from peer feedback as well as guidance from seminar leader. Key issues will be debated, and examples of writing in the different areas studied will be analysed.

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 1 x 2-hour drop-in session. Students will be invited to attend to receive support and advice on their final assessment.

Guided Independent Study: 22 hours’ worth of guided learning activities that include guided screenings, reading tasks, preparation of seminar activities (individually or in groups). Students are expected to work independently on these activities, but they are set by seminar leaders with guidance.

The remainder of the hours assigned to this module will be spent preparing each assessment task and carrying out independent study, during which students are expected to use the learning materials, skills and feedback provided as a springboard from which to develop their own ideas and skills as independent scholars.

The different types of learning activities work together in combination with one another to build progressively the skill set and methodological knowledge/capacities required to author convincing and conceptually sound scholarly essays.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Written assessment allows students to demonstrate higher intellectual skills of understanding, analysis and
evaluation, as well as to demonstrate personal research and information skills. Students will be able to either select a question from a set provided, or to frame their own question, subject to approval by the module leader

General Notes

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