Storytelling and Cultural Communication in Film and Television - TFT00105M

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Module summary

This module examines how film and television function as pervasive forms of storytelling and communication, projecting ideas and world-views, and representing people, places and ways of life. It will explore how storytelling is organised and functions in screen media, and consider the contribution film
and TV make to contemporary cultural expression, debate and contestation in an increasingly global context of production and consumption.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2023-24

Module aims

This module aims:

• To develop a critical understanding of how film and television function as pervasive forms of storytelling and cultural communication.
• To develop knowledge and a critical understanding of the role of film and television in projecting national cultures, ideas and world-views, and representing people, places and ways of life, with a context of cross cultural communication.
• To develop knowledge and critical understanding of how screen media shape international cultural attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of the audiences they reach through the stories they tell.
• To develop a critical understanding of how film and television analysis can inform the creative process of moving image production.

Module learning outcomes

You will:

• Understand how film and television storytelling techniques generate meanings that communicate cultural ideas and values to an audience.
• Understand the impact and influence such communication has on the formation and expression of cultural identity within a context of cross cultural exchange.
• Have a familiarity with how specific examples of cultural identities have been constructed, expressed and communicated to audiences through the media of film and television.
• Be able to draw upon and apply a range of conceptual resources for the analysis of film and television.
• Be able to apply the understandings gained from critical analysis of films and television to their own creative ideas and screen production practices.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

The formative assessment (weeks 8-12) will facilitate discussion and feedback of ideas to be developed for the final summative.

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100

Module feedback

You will receive written feedback in line with standard University turnaround times.

Indicative reading

Indicative Reading

Archer, N. (2021). Cinema and Brexit: The Politics of Popular English Film. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Bogle, D. (2001). Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks: An interpretive history of blacks in American films. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Bordwell D. and Thompson, K. (2013). Film Art: An Introduction, 10 th Ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Constable, C. (2015). Postmodernism and film: Rethinking Hollywood’s Aesthestics. New York, NY: Wallflower Press.

Durovicová N. and Newman, K. (eds.) (2009). World cinemas, transnational perspectives. New York; London : Routledge.

Ezra, E. (ed.) (2003). European cinema. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Forrest, D. (2022). New Realism: Contemporary British Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Griffiths, R. (eds.), (2008). Queer cinema in Europe. Chicago : Intellect Books.

Hjot, M. and Petrie, D. (eds.), (2017). The Cinema of Small Nations. Edinburgh: EUP.

Lim, S. and Ward. J. (eds.) (2011). The Chinese cinema book. London: BFI.

Martin, D. and Shaw, D. (eds.) (2017). Latin American women filmmakers: production, politics, poetics. London: I.B. Tauris.

Mulvey, L. and Blackman Rogers, A. (eds.) (2015). Feminisms : Diversity, Difference and Multiplicity in Contemporary Film. Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press.

Nwonka, C. and Saha, A. (2021). Black British Cinema II. London: Goldsmith’s Press.

Ruby Rich, B. (2013). New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut. Durham: Duke University Press.

Stone, R et al. (2018). The Routledge Companion to World Cinema. London: Routledge.

Thornham, S. (1999). Feminist film theory: A reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Vitali, V. and Willemen, P. (2006). Theorising National Cinema. London: BFI.

Zhou, X. (2017). Globalization and Contemporary Chinese Cinema: Zhang Yimous Genre Films. Singapore: Springer Singapore Pte. Limited.