CLC5213MediaandPopularCulture.docVIP

CLC 5213 Media and Popular Culture Prof. Natalia S.H. CHAN Friday: 6:45-9:30pm Venue: ELB401 We are now living in a media-oriented age. Communication networks have been of enormous and growing importance in the development of modern and global capitalism. Our contemporary culture, in a critical sense, is mediated. The media not only provides the information but also constitutes the formation of our identity. This course introduces students to the critical study of media theory and popular culture, and their socio-cultural impacts on everyday life, society and geopolitics. It emphasizes the study of history, production, genre, social reception and political effect of various kinds of media and popular culture such as advertisement, photography, television and VCD technology, popular music and MTV, newspaper and printing culture, computer and internet. The course’s objective is to acquaint students with different methodologies in media theory, and encourage them to examine the cultural text from the perspectives of semiotics, ideological criticism, gender representation and cultural policy. Each class meeting consists of lecturing, screening, students’ presentation and discussion. Evaluation bases on a term paper and students’ presentation. Week One (13 Jan): Course Organization and Class Discussion Screening: -葛文輝、吳君如：〈愛到要死「你去死」〉(30min, 1996) Discussion: TV Game Show and Popular Culture: Family Structure and Human Relations in the Age of Mass Media Week Two (20 Jan): Introduction—Mass Media Reproduction Readings: -Lawrence Grossberg: Media Making: Mass Media in a Popular Culture (selected) -Walter Benjamin: “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Audio: selected songs of 軟硬天師、林海峰 Week Three (27 Jan): Holiday— Happy Chinese New Year! Week Four (3 Feb): Advertising (I)—The Concept of Sign Readings: -Ferdinand de Saussure: “The Linguistic Sign” -(T) Roland Barthes: Mythologies -丘世文：〈從商業廣告發展看香港社會文化〉 Illustration: selected advertisem