50135 Television and Popular Culture

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: Writing and Contemporary Cultures
Credit points: 8 cp
Result Type: Grade, no marks

Requisite(s): 50108 Contemporary Cultures OR 50229 Contemporary Cultures
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.

Handbook description

This cultural studies subject examines television as a cultural formation involving issues of personal and social history and ethnography, class, ethnicity, affect, entertainment and spectatorship, and covers a broad range of contemporary debates in both television studies and cultural studies. TV genres examined include soap opera, sitcoms, music television, news and current events, serials, reality TV, talkshows and 'junk TV'. Apart from Anglophone TV in Australia, the USA and the UK aspects of television output and programming in other parts of the world is explored in relation to issues of globalisation, transnationalism, 'copycat TV' and the diffusion of global TV formats and genres such as soap opera and game shows. The development of multicultural, community and indigenous TV is also examined.

Subject objectives/outcomes

At the completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

be familiar with some of the texts and debates relating to the broad field of Television Studies
have expanded their historical knowledge of television and cultural theory
be able to provide accurate accounts of particular arguments and positions within the field of television studies and be able to bring their own perspective to bear on these positions
be able to provide an accurate historical and social account of certain television-cultural theories and forms of television.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject will contribute to the graduate profile by ensuring students:

have a broad range of skills and knowledge, making for creative and critically informed communications professionals
have a critical knowledge of Australian cultural traditions, industries and institutions have a critical knowledge of cultural and aesthetic debates, and their implications for cultural policy developments
be able to think critically and creatively about future developments in cultural industries
have a strong awareness of the needs of specific communities and the ability to evaluate a range of strategies for dealing with cultural and social problems, and
are able to function within groups and be sensitive to the multiple dimensions of social and cultural difference.

Teaching and learning strategies

There will be weekly screenings of films and television programs which will be introduced and discussed by the lecturers, and then discussed further in tutorials in relation to the weekly readings.

There is a book of readings containing the subject's core readings for each week. The booklet contains the essential, minimum readings for Television and Popular Cultures. Students are expected to pursue further readings of books and journal articles for inclusion in their final essay.

Students are expected to read these and be prepared to engage in informed discussion about issues which arise from the readings. Screenings of films (listed below) and extracts from television programs will be held each week, after the topics involved are introduced by the lecturers.

Content

In this subject students will:

become familiar with the principal issues and concepts covered in the weekly readings.
become conversant with concepts relating to Television Studies such as spectatorship, 'flow', convergence, globalization and glocalization, cult TV, etc.
explore connections between various different television programs and formats.
discuss issues of policy, form and content in relation to television in a national as well as global context.
produce informed critical analyses and interpretive readings of televisual 'texts' and culture.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Short essay

Objectives	a, b
Value	15%
Due	Week 6 (in class)
Task	To write a short essay (1500 words) about the student's own experience of watching television, and a particular program which has contributed strongly to the student's sense of identity as a television spectator.
Assessment criteria	Demonstrated ability to: Write analytically about television and spectatorship Analyse formal and stylistic aspects of television in terms of cultural studies approaches, demonstrating a strong engagement with relevant concepts, texts, readings and resources Present the assignment in a coherently written and grammatically and typographically correct form with consistent scholarly referencing of sources

Assessment item 2: Tutorial presentation

Objectives	a, c
Value	25%
Due	Weeks as arranged
Task	Regular attendance at lectures and tutorials (minimum 80%) is obligatory. Each student is required to give a tutorial presentation to the class. The aim of the presentation is to address aspects of the topic which we are studying that week. Your presentation should consist of a close engagement with one or more of the seminar readings, and you may also decide to discuss material that isn't covered in the reader, but which you think is relevant to the ideas that we are addressing that week. The presentation should be around 15 – 20 minutes in length, followed by questions and class discussion. A written version of this must be handed in to your tutor after the presentation
Assessment criteria	Demonstrated ability to: Identify and critically evaluate main ideas and issues raised in subject readings, as well as in the lectures and tutorials. Creatively engage with and apply concepts and material through the use of discussion, examples, case studies, and screenings. Demonstrate a clear verbal communication of ideas, and show an effective and coherent organisation and structure in terms of the presentation. Manage and supervise a productive class discussion, and (if it is a group presentation) show satisfactory evidence of contribution within the group.

Assessment item 3: Final Essay

Objectives	b, c, d
Value	60%
Due	Week 14 (in class).
Task	A 3,000 word essay on one of the topics which will be distributed in week 4. Students can also devise their own topic in consultation with their tutor. Projects can comprise text and audio-visual materials (images, video clips, mpegs, sound recordings etc.) in different combinations and be delivered in different formats. A short written synopsis of the project must be delivered with an assignment coversheet on the due date. A minimum two-page commentary/description is required for non text-based assignments. A bibliography/filmography must be incorporated in the project materials. Students must consult their tutor before proceeding with a non-prescribed essay topic or project whether it is to be produced as an essay or not.
Assessment criteria	Demonstrated ability to: Identify and effectively apply relevant concepts and themes in response to an essay question on a particular topic in this field. Demonstrate knowledge of a substantial amount of critical scholarship related to the topic. Develop a clear and well-supported (by scholarly references and examples where relevant) argument in response to the essay question or chosen project. Present the assignment in a coherently written and grammatically and typographically correct form with consistent scholarly referencing of sources or, in the case of a non essay-based project, present the work in an intelligible and coherently accessible manner with consistent scholarly referencing of sources.

Minimum requirements

Students are expected to read the subject outline to ensure they are familiar with the subject requirements. Since class discussion and participation in activities form an integral part of this subject, you are expected to attend, arrive punctually and actively participate in classes. If you experience difficulties meeting this requirement, please contact your lecturer. Students who have a reason for extended absence (e.g., illness) may be required to complete additional work to ensure they achieve the subject objectives.

Attendance is particularly important in this subject because it is based on a collaborative approach which involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas. Students who attend fewer than ten classes are advised that their final work will not be assessed and that they are likely to fail the subject.

Indicative references

Robert C. Allen and Annette Hill (Eds.), The Television Studies Reader, London: Routledge, 2004.

Mark Andrejevic, Reality TV: The Art of Being Watched, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.

Ien Ang, Living room wars: rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world, New York: Routledge, 1996.

Chris Anderson, Hollywood TV, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998.

Mark Balnaves, Tom O'Regan and Jason Sternberg (Eds.), Mobilising the Audience, University of Queensland Press, 2002.

John Corner, Critical Ideas in Television Studies, Oxford; Clarendon Press, 1999.

Stuart Cunningham and John Sinclair (Eds.), Floating Lives: The Media and Asian Diasporas, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 2000.

Mohammed El-Nawawy & Adel Iskandar, Al-Jazeera: How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Westview, 2002.

James Friedman (Ed.), Reality Squared: Televisual Discourse on the Real, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002.

John Hartley, The Uses of Television, London: Routledge, 1999.

Christine Geraghty & David Lusted (Eds.), The Television Studies Book, London: Arnold 1998.

Toni Johnson-Woods, Big bother: Why did that reality-TV show become such a phenomenon?, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 2002.

David Lavery (Ed.), Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1995.

Alan McKee, Australian Television: A Genealogy of Great Moments, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Joshua Meyrowitz, No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour, New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Hugh Miles, Al-Jazeera: How Arab News Challenged the World, London: Abacus, 2005.

Toby Miller (Ed.), Television: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, London: Routledge, 2003.

Toby Miller (Ed.), Television Studies, London: BFI Publishing, 2003.

Albert Moran, Copycat Television, Luton: University of Luton Press, 1998.

Albert Moran and Michael Keane (Eds.), Television Across Asia: Television Industries, Programme Formats and Globalization, London: Routledge Curzon, 2004.

David Morley, Television, Audiences, and Cultural Studies, London: Routledge, 1992.

Horace Newcomb (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Television (3 Vols.), Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.

Tom O'Regan, Australian Television Culture, Sydney: Allen & Unwin,1993.

Lisa Parks and Shanti Kumar (Eds.), Planet TV: A Global Television Reader, New York and London: New York University Press, 2003.

John Sinclair, Elizabeth Jacka and Stuart Cunningham (Eds.), New Patterns in Global Television: Peripheral Vision, Oxford University Press, 1996.

Lynn Spigel and Jan Olsson (Eds.), Television After TV: Essays on a Medium in Transition, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2004.

Graeme Turner and Stuart Cunningham (Eds.) The Australian TV Book, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2000.

Raymond Williams, Television: Technology and Cultural Form, London and New York: Routledge, 2005 [originally published in 1974].