TVR 30.5: Media Criticism (Television and Radio Criticism)Semester Syllabus - Spring, 2005 Tuesday/Friday |
This course explores critical and theoretical approaches to understanding contemporary media, particularly mass media such as television, radio, and Internet streaming media. We will examine the meanings, pleasures, and practices associated with our production and consumption of media content.
We live in our media. We spend more time engaged in communication than we spend in any other activity, including sleeping, and there are media choices associated with every minute of that communication. In this course, you will learn how to analyze the media and the messages they enable. To do this we need to step back from the way we usually think about media and consider alternate perspectives; we need to learn how to use those perspectives to view, hear, read about, think about, discuss, and write about the media we use and the content we consume from those media.
To do so, we will survey several major methods associated with media theory and criticism. Media theory considers the ways in which, "in the words of Marshall McLuhan, "the medium is the message"; the ways in which the possibilities, uses, effects, practices associated with media imbue messages with meaning. Various methods of media criticism apply differing theoretical premises to identifying the message of the medium. The critical methods examined in this course include semiotics, narrative theory, genre theory, ideological theories, cultural studies, and media ecology.
This course is designed to help you to think about the media you use to make and consume messages. It will present a variety of of different perspectives on the media within a framework that should complement your production experiences and goals. You will be asking questions, exploring possibilities, and writing intensively (this is a writing intensive course) about difficult and sophisticated ideas, and cultivating skills that are crucial to your development not only as future media makers and storytellers, but also as participants in our evolving media culture.
Allen, R.C. Channels of discourse, reassembled: Television and contemporary criticism. The University of North Carolina Press. 1994.
Levinson, P. Digital McLuhan: a guide to the information millennium. Routledge. 2001.
A body of content of your choosing. You will need to obtain this body of content yourself. You will view it repeatedly. If you don't have a VCR or DVD player at your local place of residence (dorm room, apartment, home, etc) that you can use this way, you should obtain one. VCRs and DVD players are currently available from retailers for as little as $40.
My usual practice is to make my lecture notes directly available to the class via the Internet. I will display those lecture notes during class. You can print them out later. You may be able to print them out before class, but I don't guarantee that you will. I known for changing my lecture notes right up to the beginning of class (and sometimes during class), however. The version posted at the end of class can generally be considered to be reliable.
This class will have a class discussion group. You must participate in it. Details will be announced early in the semester.
- Only class members can join.
- Many Student Work Assignments should be posted to the group.
- The professor will post important class information (assignment reminders, hints for tests, changes in course outline) from time to time.
- You can also use this group to exchange of any class related-information or questions.
Weight Description Exam 25% Classic Question and Answer testing, conducted at the end of the semester. Covers all of the material covered in first third of the course, including classroom discussion and textbooks. It will almost certainly be graded on a curve. Index Card Assignments 10% Index card assignments entail doing a small assignment involving thought or observation, but usually with the restriction that the output of the assignment (your answer or observation) must fit on one side of a 3x5 card. There will be between 10 and 20 such assignments, each worth about .66 (10/15). These will not be graded. Simply turning them in on time nets the points, but deductions will be taken if it is obvious that a particular assignment wasn't taken seriously. Index Card Assignments will frequently be used in the course of class discussions. Short Criticism Paper 1 12% A short (approximately three page) research paper applying one methodology to your selected content. Short Criticism Paper 2 12% A short (approximately three page) research paper applying one methodology to your selected content. Term Paper 25% A longer (at least six pages; but at least 10 pages for the possibility of any kind of A) research paper applying the methodologies of your choice to your selected content. Term Paper Presentation 6% A 6-8 minute presentation that overviews what you found in your term paper for the class. Note that a six page term paper would normally take at least 12 minutes to read. You won't have that much time, and its usually a good idea to play a short clip from your body of content, so focus on the notion of "overview". Participation 10% You should bring two questions to class each day based on the readings. Write them on one side of an index card. Lectures will generally take the form of a conversation in which you ask questions and we discuss the answers to those questions. This portion of the grade will be based on your preparation and ability to both ask good questions and participate in answering them. If I feel strongly that the class is not prepared, I may give a quiz that will count as a part of this portion of the grade. Total Grade (based on above) 100% Attendance Subtraction open Every absence beyond four will result in a net subtraction from your final grade. Effort Bonus Up to 10% An optional addition, based on good and enthusiastic participation, interest in subject matter, etc. There is no guarantee I will give any of these points to anyone.
There are several layers of content associated with this course, including:
- the texts and other readings.
- Lectures, which will extend and often diverge from the readings.
- Class discussions
- tests
- papers and other assignments
All of these elements contribute to the overall learning experience of this class, and you will necessary miss out on these layers if you miss class. Attendance counts as a part of the course grade in at least two ways. It will not be possible to receive an A in this class with more than 3 absences. With your fourth absence I will subtract 5% from your final grade. With your fifth I will subtract 10%. If you have six absences, you fail the course.
For most students these absences will have additional secondary effects on test scores and other assignments.
Arriving to class late (e.g. after I finish taking attendence) or leaving early counts as 1/3 of an absence.
Bottom line: Be here.
I will notify the class if, for any reason, I will not be there. I have never missed a class without notifying the class of it by some means. I do not plan to start now. You are not free to leave until either I dismiss class or the class period ends.
Bottom line: Normal time limits on my arrival do not apply. If I'm not there yet, take out your questions and start discussing the readings.
I have caught a number of students attempting to pass off other people's work as their own. Such behavior is unacceptable in any classroom, and I won't accept it in mine. My usual practice will be to zero any assignment on which a student has been found to be cheating and consult with the department chair on what other actions may be appropriate
Examples of cheating include:
- Duplicate test answers. I cannot prevent students from studying together or comparing notes on a take home exam (should I give any). Test answers should always be in your own words (e.g. not copied out of a book or off of someone else's test paper).
- Plagiarized term paper content. I encourage you to look at content from a wide variety of sources, but the content of your term paper should be in your own words.
- Unreferenced term paper content. Where, in the course of writing a term paper, you present the ideas of others, you must indicate where they came from with a reference. This is true even when you have stated the ideas in your own words or if the ideas or their sources seem obvious.
Bottom line: Write in your own words and reference the ideas you use to the sources you read them in.
Students who have a disabling condition which might interfere with their ability to successfully complete this course are encouraged to speak to me confidentially. I will be happy to cooperate in identifying alternate means of demonstrating such mastery where there is a demonstrable need.
Bottom line: I'm here to help.
It is your responsibility to ensure that all assignments are submitted by the due date. I will reduce the grade on an assignment by 5% for every class period by which it is late.
If you have a question I encourage you to ask it in class. There are no stupid questions; only answers that didn't need to be. If you don't know the answer to a question it is likely someone else is curious as well. Please ask. The worst that can happen is that I defer my answer to a meeting after class or during office hours.
If you have a problem in the class I encourage you to contact me as quickly as possible. Several means of contact are listed at the top of my Brooklyn College home page, including telephone, e-mail, and instant messenger. I also maintain regular office hours. Note, in particular, that I will not grant an incomplete for the course unless you talk to me about it in advance or I am aware of conditions which would make it impossible for you to do so.