Explore the development of the Gothic from its literary origins in the mid-18th century through to the mid-20th century. You will analyse the literary and cultural properties of Gothicism as it has shifted and diversified over this period and you will be encouraged to engage with Gothic novels alongside a range of forms across a wide cultural and historical spectrum. This module will also introduce you to theoretical and critical methods of analysing the Gothic such as Freud?s concept of the uncanny and Julia Kristeva?s theory of abjection.
Examine the relationships between writing and the Northern Ireland conflict (1966?1998). You will consider the ways in which writing responds to serious and prolonged political and social crisis and how it offers insights into issues normally considered to be purely within the realm of party or national politics. This module will enable you to understand the way literature negotiates the tensions between the demands of artistic integrity and independence and the pressures to speak out or to contribute towards the resolution of violent political division. You will also look at texts produced after 1998, a time of somewhat uncertain `peace and reconciliation'.
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.
Gain an understanding of the cultural connections between Africa and the African Diaspora through the analysis of a range of key literary works. Through close reading and analysis of the modules primary texts and the interrogation of postcolonial theoretical debates, you will be encouraged to explore the intersections and tensions between issues of race, gender, identity, education and language within the contexts of slavery, colonialism, migration and exile.
Study contemporary genres with an emphasis on their innovativeness and their interaction with socio-cultural developments of the new millennium. You will engage with cutting edge texts to consider their innovations in and interactions with the contemporary world.
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 the historical connection between popular music and the dissenting voice through a series of indicative case studies beginning with bar-room ballads, soldiers' songs and worksong traditions that include non-Anglophone sources. You will also look at 20th-century modes of dissent including popular song, folk, rock, jazz and soul models. Alongside post-1970 modes of protest, you will look at the use and abuse of sound and technology such as radio and new music media to convey protest.
Study a selection of American plays from the 1920s to the 1990s, focusing on the ways in which they dramatise the relationship between public issues and private concerns. This module investigate the ways in which American drama stages the enduring conflict between the search for individual happiness and the making of social and political bonds in a society based on an ideology of competitive individualism. The module will provide opportunities to refine your skills in collaborative work, oral presentation, guided research, and independent study.
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
Engage with debates about masculinity which took place during the long 18th century. You will read a range of literary texts, including novels and poetry and focus on important models of 'manliness' which were prevalent in the period. This module will encourage you to situate texts in relation to historical context, and also to engage with theory.
Study the autobiographical branch of creative non-fiction.You will complete a number of creative writing exercises and regular workshops to help you refine your work with feedback from fellow students and tutor feedback in class, online, verbally, and in writing. This module will see you read a range of exemplary works of autobiographical non-fiction with a critical eye to begin making connections between the techniques and approaches of published works and your own.
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.
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.
Build on your learning from years one and two to complete an in-depth study of genres, their relationship to visual texts, audiences and institutions, and role in everyday life. This module will investigate key studies in film and television and explore ways in which these studies can be linked with broader areas of cultural theory. You will be equipped with the skills to critically analyse models of genre in visual studies and explore the role of genre in making meaning from media texts.
You will use the work of Leeds-based filmmaker Louis Le Prince as a starting point for an exploration of the interpenetration of media, space and place. You will draw on a range of core themes such as modernism, postmodernism, the local and global, and the public and private to understand the transformation of material and symbolic spaces and places that media technologies now enable. Studying this module will place the new media debate in historical context and assess key transformative moments in media history and the implications this has for the cityscape. You will explore a range of media and cultural texts to examine the tensions between the representation and the lived experience of space and place, using Leeds and its cultural venues alongside your own personal media technologies throughout to interrogate critical and theoretical debates.
Understand how writers and film-makers have imagined city spaces and identities in a range of postcolonial locations. Through an exciting range of literary and cinematic texts, and drawing on theories of urban space, place, and postcoloniality, you will explore issues that are of central importance to the world many of us live in today, including migrant labour, asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal immigrants; crime, conflict, and policing; memory, history, and urban space; class, gender, race, sexuality, and the postcolonial city amongst others.
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.
Explore the development of 20th-century fiction by women with particular reference to the genre of romantic fiction. You will study a selection of literary fictions by women from this period and examine how a number of writers have modified and transformed the conventions of romantic fiction.