Giving you a critical and evaluative understanding of film within an interdisciplinary context, this programme encourages you to understand the role of film and cinema within a range of socio-cultural arenas. Forging the links between film theory and film practices, cultural politics and state or foreign policy, it will also allow you to assess the notion of film as a social process engaging with issues of representation, production and consumption.
The programme is modular and offers a structured approach that includes taught core and optional modules such as Cold War Film, and Death and the Moving Image. Alongside this you will undertake training in research skills, culminating in an independently researched 20,000-word thesis.
You will gain a firm grounding in different approaches to the analysis of film, a broad knowledge of the history of cinema and developments in film theory, and the ability to evaluate these in relation to films and film cultures.
You will complete the following taught modules:
Film, Theory and Politics
This module examines the interaction between film, film theory and politics. It will provide you with a solid grounding in some of the critical debates of the discipline, and in related cultural issues central to its development and our focus on American Film. As such, it will enable you to assess the impact of politics on various levels of film analysis and production: from the ideology of the classical apparatus and text to the race or sexual politics of Hollywood cinema, from the censoring of the Production Code era to the attempted radicalism of post-modern film practices.
By the end of the module you should be able to:
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Demonstrate a critical understanding of 1970s film theory
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Demonstrate the ability to analyse both classical and post-classical Hollywood cinema in terms of ideology, and race and sexual politics, and via textual and contextual approaches
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Demonstrate an understanding of how legislation impacts upon film form and content, and how films position themselves outside of political convention
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Research and use critically primary and secondary materials, including audio-visual material
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Give a presentation, including the use of primary and secondary materials, demonstrating in-depth knowledge and application of film theory to interpret the ideological work of a single film example.
Research Skills and Methods
This module aims to develop your skills in research practices, including preparation and presentation of dissertations and theses. It supports the research planning for your dissertation/thesis.
By the end of the module you should be able to:
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Understand the requirement to construct a methodological framework for your topic
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Conduct web-based research
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Construct a bibliography and use a recognised style guide in citations
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Identify and analyse primary and secondary sources
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Demonstrate ability to present a detailed analysis of one text or idea as a case study
Optional modules include:
Death and the Moving Image
This module investigates the representation of death, and its surrounding debates, across a range of genres and aesthetic practices, to position it within a socio-cultural, historical, and critical context. Through consideration of the various forms and functions of the spectre of death, or of cinematic death itself, it explores their relationship to narrative, ideology and spectatorship.
By the end of the module you should be able to:
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Demonstrate a critical understanding of discussions associated with a range of film genres dealing with death, e.g. film noir, the 90s erotic thriller, New Black Cinema and the terminal illness film
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Critically evaluate the key concepts and debates applicable to an analysis of the cinematic representation of death
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Demonstrate a critical understanding of the way that social and cultural context influences the narrative function of death
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Draw upon a range of examples from other cultural forms to confirm and/or broaden the discussion of the representation of death in contemporary culture
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Communicate the issues that the cinematic representation of death raises in a coherent and informed way in both written and spoken form
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Research and use critically primary and secondary source materials, including audio-visual materials
Cold War Film
This module aims to examine films of the Cold War era c.1946-1965 and develop your skills in both film theory, and film history. It examines the political and economic context of the production of film, looking at issues such as political control via McCarthyism and the HUAC, and the economic demands that directed and constrained film production. You will then examine a series of films, in order to assess the extent to which film reflected or engaged with social, cultural and political debates of the time.
By the end of the module you should be able to:
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Demonstrate a critical understanding of the political, economic and cultural forces that affected the production of American film in the period
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Demonstrate the ability to critically read a film, using and critiquing film theory
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Demonstrate an understanding of the construction and function of genre in the period c1945-1965
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Research and use critically primary evidence, including audio-visual material
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Give a presentation, including the use of primary evidence, on a film, demonstrating in-depth knowledge of film history and critically applying film theory to interpret the film
Modules and courses are constantly updated and under review. As with most academic programmes, please remember that it is possible that a module may not be offered in any particular year, for instance because a member of staff is on study leave or too few students opt for it. The University of Birmingham reserves the right to vary or withdraw any course or module.
We charge an annual fee. Fees for 2013/14 are currently as follows:
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Home / EU: full-time - £3,900; part-time - £1,950
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Overseas: full-time - £12,140
Learn more about fees and funding.
Scholarships and studentships
Scholarships to cover fees and/or maintenance costs may be available.
For further information, visit the College of Arts and Law scholarships page or email financialsupport@bham.ac.uk
International students can often gain funding through overseas research scholarships, Commonwealth scholarships or their home government.