Dr Sadie Wearing, COL.5.04D

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Gender, Media and Culture. This course is available on the MSc in Gender, MSc in Gender (Research), MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities, MSc in Media and Communications, MSc in Media and Communications (Research), MSc in Media, Communication and Development and MSc in Organisational and Social Psychology. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course aims to enable students: to think critically about representations of gender in a range of different media; to apply a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the media; to examine changing representations of gender in the context of wider social changes and to explore questions concerning the interpretation and use of different media and their products. The course focuses on examples largely drawn from Anglo-American media and usually includes topics such as news media and gender; gendered approaches to contemporary cinema; advertising and gender and critically explores terms such as 'postfeminism' in relation to media content. The course also considers themes such as the nature of contemporary celebrity and questions of media representations gender in relation to dimensions such as sexuality, class, race, age and (dis)ability. 

Students will be expected to maintain familiarity with contemporary UK media.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the MT.

Lectures will incorporate audio-visual material. There will be occasional screenings of material to be discussed in class.

Essay (1500-2000 words) to be submitted during class in Week 5 of the MT.

• *Gill, R. (2007) Gender and the Media.
• Cohan, S. & Hark, I.R. (eds) (1993), Screening the Male: Exploring Masculinities in Hollywood Cinema, (chapters by Neale, Wiegman, Fuchs).
• Dyer, R. (2001) Culture of Queers.
• Dyer, R. (2002) The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation.
• Hall, A. (1998) Delights, Desires and Dilemmas: Essays on Women and the Media.
• Hall, S. (1997) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices.
• MacDonald, M. (1995) Representing Women: Myths of Femininity in Popular Media.
• Meyers, M. (1999) Mediated Women. Representations in Popular Culture.
• Stacey, J. (1994) Star Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship.
• Tasker, Y. and Negra, D. (eds) (2007) Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture (Console-ing Passions).
• van Zoonen, L, (1994) Feminist Media Studies.

Essay (100%, 4000 words) in the LT.