Mass media, film and theatre

The aim of the course in mass media, film and theatre is to acquaint the students with major tendencies in contemporary Anglophone theatre, film and media. In the first semester the course focuses on British theatre, performance and theatre studies as well as theory and criticism related to British and American theatre. The second semester is dedicated to an overview of recent critical approaches to the study of mass media, film and new media.

Winter term:

Students will have an opportunity to read and discuss the works by theatre theoreticians and practitioners, interviews and performance documents. Particular emphasis will be allocated to experimental theatre forms.

As a learning outcome the students will be expected to obtain specialized knowledge in selected aspects of Anglophone theatre and the ability to critically interpret, classify and assess theatrical events and tendencies in Anglophone cultures.

- Introduction (description of learning outcomes, the course content, assessment methods and criteria) (2hrs)

- Semiotics of theatre (2hrs)

- The Empty Space (2hrs)

- Theatre anthropology (2hrs)

- Environmental theatre (2hrs)

- Postdramatic theatre (4hrs)

- Contemporary British theatre (2hrs)

- Theatre institutions (2hrs)

- Minorities theatres (2hrs)

- American experimental theatre (2 hrs)

- Performance art in America (2 hrs)

- Feminist theatre (2hrs)

- In-yer-face theatre (2hrs)

- Test (2hrs)

Summer term:

The seminar offers an overview of contemporary critical approaches to the study of mass media, film and new media with the aim to provide students with the analytical tools necessary for analyzing various media texts and practices. The course focuses on cinema studies, comics studies, transmedia storytelling, games studies, and fandom.

Content distribution:

- - Advertising

- - Film narrative

- - Nostalgia film

- - Simulations and simulacra

- - Neo-noir cinema

- - Comics and superheroes

- - Multimedia and cinema

- - Transmedia TV

- - Games and gaming

- - Fandom

Winter term:

Barba, Eugenio. 1995. The Paper Canoe: A Guide to Theatre Anthropology. London: Routledge.

Brook, Peter. 1990 (1968). The Empty Space. London: Penguin.

Campbell, Patrick, ed. 1996. Analysing Performance: A Critical Reader. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Esslin, Martin. 1988. The Field of Drama. London: Methuen.

Ferris, Lesley, ed. 1993. Crossing the Stage: Controversies on Cross-dressing. London: Routledge.

Huxley, Michael, and Noel Witts, eds. 1996. The Twentieth Century Performance Reader. London: Routledge.

Kershaw, Baz. 1992. The Politics of Performance: Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention. London. Routledge.

Lehmann, Hans-Thies. 2006. Postdramatic Theatre. London: Routledge.

Schechner, Richard. 1994 (1973). Environmental Theater. New York: Applause.

Shank, Theodore, ed. 1996. Contemporary British Theatre. London: Macmillan.

Summer term:

Eklund, Christopher. 2006. “Comics studies,” in Modern North American Criticism and Theory: A Critical Guide, ed. Julian Wolfreys. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 207-213.

Eubank, Leo and Marshall Cohen (eds.). 2004. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: Oxford University Press.

Dovey, Jon and Helen W. Kennedy. 2006. Game Cultures: Computer Games as New Media. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. (fragments)

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

Jenkins, Henry. 2004. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture,” in First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, eds. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan. Cambridge: MIT Press, 118-30.

Kellner, Douglas. 1995. Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics between the Modern and the Postmodern. London: Routledge. (fragments)

Mittell, Jason. 2014. “Strategies of Storytelling on Transmedia Television,” in Storyworlds across Media, eds. Marie Laure Ryan and Jan Noël Thon. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 252-277.

Turner, Graeme. 1999. Film as Social Practice. London: Routledge.

Žižek, Slavoj. 2004. “Welcome to the Desert of the Real,” in A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, eds. Antony Easthope and Kate. McGowan Maidenhead, England: Open University Press, 231-234.

Winter term:

Assessment methods:

- presentation W2, U3, U4, K1, K2

- mini-presentation W2, U3, U4

- active participation in discussion W1, W2, W3, U1, U2, U5, K1, K2, K3

- test W1, W2, W3, U2, U2, U5

Assessment criteria:

The final mark consists of the assessment of:

- the presentation (30% of the final grade)

- participation (10% of the final grade)

- mini-presentation (10% of the final grade)

- test results (50% of the final grade)

fail- (0-49%)

satisfactory- (50-59%)

satisfactory plus-(60-69%)

good - (70-79%)

good plus- (80-89%)

very good- (90-100%)

Summer term:

A graded credit on the basis of assessing the level of achieving particular learning outcomes:

- activity (25%) - U2, U3

- short tests (30%) - W1, W2, W 3

- final project (multimedia presentation; 45%) – U1, U4, U5, K1, K2

Assessment criteria:

fail – 0-59 %

satisfactory – 60-69 %

satisfactory plus – 70-75 %

good – 76-85 %

good plus – 86-90 %

very good – 91-100 %