Film & Media Studies

Why are social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram popular globally? How have these platforms increasingly become part of the material basis of our daily experiences, and what are the consequences of such developments? This course introduces key theories and research in media studies. It examines a range of issues concerning the changing media landscape in which we live in at the local and global levels. Special emphasis is placed on the implications of social media for contemporary society; the emergence and consequence of celebrity culture, and the reinvention and reposition of “traditional” media in post-network context. 

The course presents the image of Scandinavia and Europe and its culture and history in television series and films. The examples range from German historical drama and British literary adaptations to current representatives of Scandinavian television drama. Furthermore, the course presents and uses theories that highlight the phenomena discussed in the course.

This interdisciplinary course examines the representation of London in a variety of cultural outputs from the Victorian to the contemporary period. In particular, it analyzes how writers and artists have expressed their perception of the city as a dark site of social tensions, mystery, crime, and detective work. Alongside representative literary texts (from Dickens and Conan Doyle to Ackroyd), the course makes room for a significant amount of visual material such as illustrations (Doré, Cruikshank), films (Hitchcock, Reed), television dramas (Ripper Street, Sherlock), and documentaries (Keiller, Ackroyd). It is also supplemented by visits to UCL Collections and other London Museums.

This course offers a theoretical and practice-based approach to exploring the nature of digital gaming. It is eclectic in scope and students are guided to make their own digital games and to critically reflect upon what their games are able to achieve. Students then explore the relationship between games, narratives, and stories, including the famous ludology versus narratology debate that characterized the birth pangs of game studies as a field. Can games tell stories? If so, what kind of stories are they most suited to telling? Next, students consider the distinctive but also varied practices that characterize gaming. These include counterplay, transgressive play, casual play, competitive play, speedruns, etc. Games are also considered as philosophical texts that can prompt us to rethink and question reality, agency, time, and our relationships with our in-game avatars. 

The course provides a critical understanding of the medium of film. It covers basic cinematic and literary terms and perspectives for film analysis and analyzes and discusses a variety of English-language films from diverse perspectives.