Course overview - Study Period 3 and 4
During the first half term, learners will study celebrity culture with a particular focus on magazines. They will learn about the conventions of magazines and analyse a range of magazine covers using the Media Language and Media Representation frameworks to explore the ways in which the media represents celebrity, class, ethnicity and gender. Learners will use a range of critical lenses to explore magazine covers, such as Richard Dyer’s Star Theory and Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory.
During the second half term, learners will focus on television. This is an in-depth unit and they will use each of the frameworks to analyse and evaluate television industries and audiences, as well as language and representation. Learners will be introduced to the concept of genre, hybridity and intertextuality and will focus in detail on US Sitcoms from the 1950s to present day, as well as on the science fiction genre and the ways in which it has changed and developed over time.
Key Concept:
Media Language, Media Representations, Media Industries, Media Audiences, Historical, social and cultural contexts.
Assessment Points:
One mini-milestone piece during each study period,with a final summative assessment at the end of the study period.
Guidance:
Learners will receive guidance in a variety of ways. These include marked assessments, reports, feedback in books, verbal feedback during sessions, and in-class quizzes.
Key Vocabulary:
Construction
Mediation
Selection
Audience Positioning
Selective Representation
Dominant Representation
Prejudice
Bias
Stereotypes
Prime Time
Watershed
Scheduling
Genre
Hybridity
Intertextuality