Television Storytelling: The Conditions of Narrative Complexity
ANTH 308
Spring 2010 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 316, FILM 319 |
This course examines the industrial and cultural conditions for the development of complex forms of storytelling in commercial U.S. television. Narrative complexity is a cross-generic phenomenon that emerged over the 1980s and has proliferated within an increasingly fragmented media environment. In class discussions and individual research projects, students will analyze particular programs in-depth, with attention to their industrial and social conditions of production, their aesthetic and ideological appeals, and the cultural tastes and practices of their viewers. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation
This course explores the industrial and cultural conditions of possibility for an aesthetic shift in television storytelling. It understands a move toward more complex narrative forms as multiply conditioned by producers' strategies, audience tastes, and new technologies. Interpretation, as pursued in the course, thus encompasses processes of production and reception.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS ANTH |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (AMST)(ANTH)(FILM-MN)(FILM)(STS) |
Major Readings:
Robert Thompson, TELEVISION'S SECOND GOLDEN AGE
Jostein Gripsrud, TELEVISION AFTER TV
Michelle Hilmes, NBC: AMERICA'S NETWORK
John Thornton Caldwell, PRODUCTION CULTURE: INDUSTRIAL REFLEXIVITY AND CRITICAL PRACTICE
Course packet (including texts by Raymond Williams, Jeffrey Sconce, Jane Feuer, Julie D'Acci, Ron Becker, Eileen Meehan, Lynn Spigel, and others)
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Examinations and Assignments:
weekly research journal
short (5-7page) midterm paper
class presentation and final research paper
students will also take turns facilitating class discussions over the semester. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
In addition to required books, students are responsible for acquiring DVDs of at least one season of whatever program(s) they select as research topics. Weekly viewing assignments will be available online through the course Blackboard. |
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