This module draws on recent social theory and on the work of Pierre Bourdieu as a means of examining how identities of class and gender are represented in contemporary media culture. You will use ethnographic case studies to look at the ways audiences consume and interact with lifestyle texts.
Explore 'race' as a mechanism used to justify oppression, slavery and genocide. But what exactly is `race'? How do racisms manifest and change over time? How can we challenge racial discrimination within the media and wider society? These are some of the important questions that this module critically investigates. You will examine and understand the historical and contemporary significance of `race', ethnicity and culture before beginning to apply your knowledge to different aspects of popular culture such as film, TV, social media, advertising and fashion, music, and sport.
Gain a critical overview of the historical, social, technological and cultural context surrounding digital media such as mobile devices, software apps and computer games. This module explores definitions and interpretations of the term 'digital reality' and how it is used in contemporary culture. You will be encouraged to critically engage with the issues surrounding digitally mediated experiences, especially in relation to interactivity, creativity, community and embodiment.
Examine the complex relationship between media and sport at both the industry and audience level. You will understand the role sports coverage plays across print, broadcast and online media in all contexts: local, regional, national and global.
Gain a critical introduction to celebrity studies and literature on film stardom. It also explores their recent cross-overs, hybridisation and yet continuing distinction in the contemporary world. Media celebrity gives focus to television, radio and new media; the dynamics of contemporary celebrity and the theory, analysis and research necessary to make sense of contemporary media celebrity. Particular use is made of the journal Celebrity Studies to explore the cutting edge of developments in ideas and research and methods. Historical contexts of film stardom are addressed yet the key focus is on recent developments of such stardom and research exploring its contemporary dynamics.
This module will introduce you to the growing area of game studies and will give you diverse methodological tools to approach video games as texts that need a multi-angle approach. Regardless of your gaming background, you will be encouraged to engage with a regular gaming practice and to adopt a reflective and critical approach toward your experiences of play and spectatorship. This module will provide you with the methodological and critical tools to focus on game mechanics and narratives, but also signs, semiotics and politics. In addition to reflecting upon workshops involving play sessions and analytical discussions, this module will include consideration of the game industry and its intricacies.
By reflecting on learning acquired through work placements, this module will focus on promoting self-awareness of your ‘career story’. You will look at how you evaluate your current skills, explore the future possibilities in your career development and navigate pathways through those chosen possibilities. This module will enable you to become ‘cartographer’ of your own future experience. You will embark upon a minimum of 80 hours work placement, supported by reflective exercises, and build expertise and confidence through a range of assessments designed by the course team and employer partners. Conceptualised and designed by digital specialists, the module is purposefully created to be delivered and experienced online – reflecting the increasingly distributed nature of work communications and embracing digital environments as an integral aspect of how employees and the self-employed progress their careers.
Examine the ways artificial intelligence and robots are replacing human personnel in automobile manufacture, banks and even social care. You'll explore a series of critical questions, such as: how will society deal with joblessness and the social trauma of transformational change? Can workers re-invent themselves in an increasingly uncertain world? How will society ensure that its innovations are designed ethically and responsibly? And can technological change help to reduce inequalities while nurturing prosperity, well-being and health benefits?
This module will consider the impact of digital technologies on the making, marketing and distribution of musical works. You'll study the shift from analogue to digital modes of recording and the rise of digital formats and streaming services. You'll also examine how music and digital technologies have together driven innovation and creativity in the development of the media technologies employed to capture, distribute and market music.
Explore the significances of diverse space media on discursive processes of 'worlding', or the generation of understandings of our world and new worlds out in the cosmos. Questions about 'who space is for' and 'who is excluded from actual and imaginary space explorations' will be key to developing a critical approach to space media. You'll engage with the public communication of space to ensure that the potentials of space are available to everyone.
This module will examine how stories told in a range of media forms can drive social change. You'll engage with complex social issues and find out how stories can raise awareness and bring about attitudinal changes in audiences. You'll learn how characters can be used to create empathy and offer multiple perspectives on social problems. You'll also learn how to structure stories, the role of narration and how to craft compelling messages for different audiences.
The spread and normalisation of surveillance encourages us to ask if surveillance is the primary form of contemporary governance. You'll examine the impact of surveillance on our identities and lives with specific concerns about issues of privacy, the inability to 'forget', and the need to self-surveil and 'share' as part of normal citizenship.
This module will offer new ways to think about cities. You'll study the history of urbanization, and the emergence of new spaces of leisure, commerce and interaction. You'll consider how new media emerged in cities and explore debates around the transformation of material and symbolic spaces and places that media technologies engender. The module will enable you to understand how the history of urbanisation is bound up with the development of media technologies. In turn, you'll discover how the entertainment demands of urban populations has driven the development and organisation of cities.