 | Use this page to view syllabus information, learning objectives, required materials, and technical requirements for the module.
As a result of College adapting your modules to combine face-to-face on campus and online teaching and learning support, the breakdown of notional learning hours set out under the heading “Technical Requirements” below may not necessarily reflect how each module will be delivered this year. Further details relating to this will be made available by your department and will be updated as part of the student timetable. |
| MA 3057 - Peripheral Visions - American Independent Cinema |
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Associated Term:
2021/22 Academic Session
Learning Objectives:
This course aims to introduce students to a selection of independent American films which are frequently overlooked by the dominant histories of American cinema and which at present are not represented on our undergraduate programme. The films selected are chosen from a diverse range of American filmmakers from the 1960s to the present and the course therefore hopes to provide an account of American film which reaches beyond the dominant Hollywood model. This will lead to consideration of the divisions in American society and how these can be perceived through the work of independent filmmakers.
A central theoretical text will be Adorno and Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment - specifically the chapter ‘The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception’. By the end of the course the students will have developed a clear understanding of Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument and will then be in a position to answer a final essay question which prompts them to discuss the ways in which American independent filmmaking can be seen to avoid the ideological trappings of industrially produced ‘culture’ – or not, as the case may be.
In effect students will focus on the detailed reading of a critical theory text – supported by secondary readings - over the entirety of the course and they will be encouraged to bring this critical perspective to bear on the films shown to them. The course therefore works on the one hand to expose students to a range of under-represented and marginal films, and on the other asks them to consider a distinct theoretical framework in their assessment of these films.
Pre-requisites:
none
Learning Outcomes:
1. Outline, in broad terms, the history of American independent filmmaking, to define the term.
2. Define what makes American independent filmmaking different from Hollywood and to understand their similarities.
3. Understand and evaluate the arguments of Adorno and Horkheimer in their opposition to the ‘culture industry’ and apply these to their analysis of independent American films.
4. Work independently, making effective use of library, archival and Internet resources and demonstrating efficient time management.
5. Write a coherent scholarly essay built around a clear proposition and comprising points of argument based upon independent analysis and research.
Required Materials: Click here for the reading list system Technical Requirements: The total number of notional learning hours associated with course are 150. These will normally be broken down as follows: 11 x 1 hour lectures across 11 week(s) = 11 hours 11 x 1 hour seminars across 11 week(s) = 11 hours 1 x 30 minute tutorial across 1 week(s) = 0.5 hours 11 x 2 hour reading sessions across 11 week(s) = 22 hours 105.5 hour(s) of Guided Independent Study Formative Assessment: Summative Assessment: Presentation - 10 minutes - 15% Essay - 4500 words - 85% |
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