Studying at York
Television: History & Analysis - TFT00025C
- Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: C
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
Module summary
The module is wide-ranging in terms of its historical and analytical scope, offering a general introduction to the study of the medium. The module examines the specificity of television as an industry, an artistic medium and a cultural form, exploring issues of television aesthetics, textuality, genre, institution, social context and audience engagement. The television texts studied will span a number of genres and forms, from those perceived as 'ordinary' and ‘everyday’ (such as soap operas and reality television) to those perceived as ‘serious’ or 'quality' (such as ‘single plays’ and literary adaptations).
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2022-23 to Spring Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
The aims of the module are:
- to acquaint students with a broad outline of television history (with a particular focus on British and American contexts)
- to provide a more detailed understanding of moments of significant aesthetic, social, industrial and technological change in the development of television
- to introduce the basic concepts, methods and terminology necessary for the understanding and systematic analysis of television as a distinct medium
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module students will be expected
- to have a broad familiarity with the history of television from its birth as a technology in the 1920s to its contemporary manifestations as a mass medium over a number of different platforms
- to have a more detailed understanding of the ways in which television is studied as both an industry and a cultural form
- to be familiar with significant concepts and debates within Television Studies as they emerged (and continue to emerge) at key points of change in television history
- to be able to draw upon and apply a range of conceptual resources for the analysis of television
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
In-class exercises on research methods and essay writing skills will be embedded across the module.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Students will receive written feedback on all assessments and reassessments.
Indicative reading
Assigned readings will be made available on a week by week basis. The key texts throughout the module will be:
- Jonathan Bignell, An Introduction to Television Studies. Third Edition. London: Routledge, 2012
- Christine Geraghty and Lusted, David The Television Studies Book. London: Arnold, 1999
- Jonathan Gray and Amanda D. Lotz, Television Studies, London: Polity, 2012
- Robert Allen and Annette Hill, The Television Studies Reader, London: Routledge, 2004
- Lez Cooke, British Television Drama: A History, London: BFI, 2003
- Catherine Johnson and Rob Turnock, ITV Cultures ITV Cultures: Independent Television over 50 years, Maidenhead: Open University Press 2005
- Paddy Scannell, Radio, Television and Modern Life, Oxford: Blackwell, 1996
- Toby Miller, Television Studies: The Basics London: Routledge, 2010
- John Caughie, Television Drama: Realism,Modernism and British Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000
- Glen Creeber and John Tulloch (ed) The Television Genre Book, London: BFI, 2008
- Glen Creeber (ed) Tele-Visions: An Introduction to Studying Television, London: BFI, 2006
- John T. Caldwell, Televisuality: Style, Crisis and Authority in American Television, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1995
- Su Holmes and Deborah Jermyn (eds) Understanding Reality Television London: Routledge, 2004
- Graeme Turner and Jinna Tay (eds) Television Studies After TV: Understanding Television in the Post-Broadcast Era London: Routledge, 2009
- James Bennett and Niki Strange (eds) Television as Digital Media, London: Duke University Press, 2011
- Charlotte Brunsdon, Screen Tastes: Soap Opera to Satellite Dishes, London: Routledge, 1997
- Marc Leverette, Brian L. Ott and Cara Louise Buckley (eds) It s Not TV:Watching HBO in the Post-television Era London: Routledge, 2008
- JanetMcCabe and KimAkass (eds) Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and 29 Beyond, London: I.B. Tauris, 2010
- Horace Newcomb (Ed.), Television The Critical View, Sixth Edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000
- Toby Miller Ed., Television Studies, London: BFI, 2002
Other reading will be indicated at appropriate moments during the module.