Diploma in Digital Film

DDF 110 - Media Culture

This course is intended to introduce students to a wide variety of different areas of culture, and encourage them to think about how what they have seen is relevant to their own work, and to try and get encourage students to think for themselves.

The online version of the course is based on forum discussion. Here are some of the topic areas at the moment (these might change by the time you do the course)

-Political media manipulation – Wag the Dog, Iraq and the war on terror

-Yokio Mishima (the Japanese author, short listed for the Nobel prize, who was also a gay body builder with his own private army who stormed the Japanese armed forces headquarters and committed ritual suicide there)

-Can you believe what you read in the newspapers?

-Dracula – the novel, the movies and the tough luck of Bela Lugosi

-The Sex Pistols and Malcolm McLarren

-Marcel Duchamp – the man who tried to exhibit a urinal as art (it was rejected) and became one of the founders of contemporary art theory

-Gender issues in King Kong – in the 1933 version Kong actually undresses his female human captive. Just what does he think he'll do next?

What are the assessments?

Two essays and a viewing log – you have to watch 17 movies and write a short report on each.

What gear do I need?

A basic computer and a net connection.