Universität Wien

124264 KO Critical Media Analysis (2013W)

Visual Pleasure and Exoticism in Mainstream Film

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 10.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 17.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 24.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 31.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 07.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 14.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 21.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 28.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 05.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 12.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 09.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 16.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 23.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 30.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course takes as its basis a critical viewing position that understands that how we see affects what we see. We apply this to the central binary of modern culture and media studies between the dominant discourse subject (construed as European and male) and the object (women, minorities and the foreign). Taking as a starting point Laura Mulvey’s seminal essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975) and Edward Said’s Introduction to Orientalism (1978), the course presents key terms of viewing perspective and cinematic technique and applies it to films that in different ways negotiates the sliding and slippery scale of subject/object and normative/exotic.

We apply these theoretical concepts to several well-known Hollywood-produced films considered mainstream for their cinematic strategies and target Western audience. We take a deconstructive and postcolonial analytical and critical view to view the texts and films comparatively. We search for techniques of exoticisation and strategies for its resistance both within the films and by viewers. The films studied in this class feature exotic Asians, indigenous peoples and women in India, Japan, China, Thailand, New Zealand and the USA, as well as the Hollywood travesty of Austria:
The Sound of Music (1965)
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
The Piano (1993)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The Karate Kid (2010)

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular attendance, class participation, one class presentation of an aspect of one movie, final analytical essay.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

This course aims to provide students with analytical tools which they can apply to all film media as well as ideas for teaching critical film and media. By analysing media from different theoretical perspectives, we see how cultural expectations are constructed. Thus media studies teach us to be more analytical and critical of the information we receive. In their individual and group work, students will adopt and adapt the critical tools and perspectives to films of their own choice.

Examination topics

This course will combine lectures, class discussions and readings of key theories with their practical application and possible teaching strategies to the visual texts through discussion and analysis. All material will be available on Moodle and in class handouts provided at the beginning of the semester. Students are expected to have watched the films at least once before class starts.

Reading list

Course material and assessment criteria will be made available via the eLearning platform (Moodle), a reading pack distributed in the first class, and a list of recommended readings and viewings. Students are expected to have watched the films at least once before class starts.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

The Karate Kid (2010)

The Piano (1993)

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Association in the course directory

Studium: UF 344, BA 612
Code/Modul: UF 4.2.5-426, BA07.3
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260

Last modified: We 09.09.2020 00:22