Module: FSS6103-20 Decentred Approaches to Film and TV

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Jamie Steele

Module Tutor Contact Details: j.steele@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module offers students the ability to engage with contemporary issues and debates in Film & Screen Studies. It engages with relevant theoretical approaches and concepts, interrogating them through contemporary film and screen examples and case studies. The module is designed to challenge film & screen epistemologies and dominant theoretical frameworks, by offering a range of emerging theoretical approaches in the field. This includes a focus on queer theory and queer screen cultures, political cinema and screen cultures, de-westernisation and film studies through minority language filmmaking and indigenous filmmaking, decarbonisation of cinema and global screen cultures through ecocriticism and eco-cinema, and diversity and inclusivity in film & screen. The module adopts a thematic and theoretical approach to de-centred global cinema and filmmaking practices. The module builds on the de-westernisation and de-centring of modules throughout the Undergraduate programme, and encourages students to engage with the limitations of dominant theoretical frameworks through this exploration of de-centred screen cultures and voices.  

2. Outline syllabus: 

This module seeks to re-fresh and re-think the dominant theoretical approaches to film & screen studies through a consideration of de-centred perspectives and approaches to global filmmaking and global screen cultures. Whilst the Undergraduate programme is – as a whole – engaging with de-westernised and de-centred perspectives, this module seeks to further develop and extend the students’ understandings of emerging theoretical debates through de-centred film and screen case studies. The module will, therefore, explore a range of fresh approaches, such as de-carbonisation and eco-cinema, minority language filmmaking, queer cinema and screens, and de-westernisation of film and screen. These case studies and topics challenge traditional theoretical perspectives, and offer students originality of critical thought.   

3. Teaching and learning activities: 

This module adopts the approach of a 1-hour lecture and 2-hour seminar. The weekly seminars offer students the opportunity to discuss and test their ideas and interpretations of the set films and forms of screen media. Beyond this, the teaching and learning opportunities include the following: Academic writing and referencing, time management, and workshops for producing online material. 

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description:  Essay (2,500 words)

• % Weighting: 50%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description:  Research Project (equivalent to 2,500 words)

• % Weighting: 50%