Unit information: Contemporary Hollywood Cinema in 2015/16

Unit name	Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
Unit code	DRAM33127
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Moen
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Film and Television
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will examine key trends and changes in contemporary Hollywood cinema. This includes the exploration of contemporary genres and narrative forms, along with the impact of new technologies and aesthetic approaches, and changing industrial contexts. The unit will also explore broader theoretical ways of understanding contemporary cinema, such as its relation to modernity/postmodernity, globalization and the place of film in contemporary media culture. Students will explore recent popular films in relation to key ways of understanding Contemporary Hollywood, developing a specific area of focus in an individual presentation and combining multiple perspectives in a research essay.

Unit aims:

To examine trends and changes in the uses of genre, narrative and aesthetics in contemporary Hollywood film; To examine changing formations of cinema as a medium and popular form; To explore the relationship between popular cinema and society and ideology; To deepen conceptual vocabularies and theoretical frameworks for the analysis of contemporary film.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

(1) Identify and critically respond to central and emerging trends in contemporary popular cinema;

(2) analyse film narrative, genre and aesthetics at an advanced level;

(3) identify and apply key methodological approaches in the study of contemporary film, and respond to the complexities of these approaches;

(4) identify and evaluate pertinent evidence in order to support a cogent argument;

(5) develop an advanced independent research project.

Teaching Information

3 x 1-hour lectures, 10 x 1-hour weekly small-group tutorials, 4 x 3-hour presentation plenaries

Assessment Information

10 min. individual presentation (30%) ILO 1, 3-4

4000 word essay (70%) ILO 1-5

Presentations will take place in plenary sessions.

Reading and References

• Bordwell, D. (2006) The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies, Berkeley: University of California Press.

• Buktaman, S. (2003) Matters of Gravity: Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th Century, Durham: Duke University Press.

• Jameson, F. (1991) Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Durham: Duke University Press.

• Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York: New York University Press.