Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminars / Tutorials | Seminars 1 x 1 hour per week |
| Lecture | Lecture/Viewing 1 x 4 hour per week |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 2500 word essay | 40% |
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours For information on due dates for submission of assessed work, please refer to the departmental web pages at http://www.aber.ac.uk/tfts/duedates.shtml | 60% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Students will be required to submit a new essay based on a new question or if the examination is failed, to resit during the Universitys resit period. |
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
Discuss contemporary television drama using and applying critical methods gained from current and past academic sources.
Examine the textual construction of a televisual narrative.
Demonstrate an understanding of the cultural, institutional and political context in which the chosen progammes are both made and received.
Create a coherent and sustained written argument.
Both the written essay and exam will test the student`s ability to discuss, examine and contextualise a piece of contemporary television drama as outlined above and will assess their capability of creating a coherent and sustained written argument. Assessment criteria will be published on the module database and in the module handbook.
Brief description
This module will concentrate on contemporary television drama, particualrly TV drama`s move away from the single play towards more long form drama. As such, it will focus on the power of the television serial or mini-series to provide a breadth of canvass rarely found in the cinema or theatre. The module will explore and examine the way that relatively recent television drama has incorporated elements of the serial form to explore issues as complex and as diverse as historical representation (Heimat), gender and sexuality (Sex and the City, Queer As Folk), national identity (The Kingdom) and the re-invention of genres (Cracker, The Sopranos). As such, the chosen texts will also be examined as individual examples around which larger areas of theoretical debate and discussion - including issues of modernism, postmodernism, feminism and sexual/national identity - can be examined and explored. Consequently, the module intends to be `contemporary` not only in the programmes it chooses to examine, but also its examination and exploration of the programmes themselves.
Reading List
Essential ReadingCREEBER, GLEN (2004) SERIAL TELEVISION: BIG DRAMA ON THE SMALL SCREEN LONDON BFI Primo search Recommended Background
Brandt, George ed (1981) British Television Drama Cambridge University Press Primo search Brandt, George ed (1993) British Television drama in the 1980s Cambridge University Press Primo search Caughie, John (2000) Television Drama: Realism, Modernism and British Culture Oxford University Press Primo search Creeber, Glen ed (2001) The Television Genre Book London/New York: BFI Primo search Day Lewis, Sean (2001) Talk of Drama: Views of the Television Dramatist Now and Then BFI Primo search Holden, Stephen (ed) (2000) The New York Times on The Sopranos New York: ibooks Primo search Holland, Patricia (1997) The Television Handbook Routledge Primo search Lavery, David (ed) (1995) Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks Wayne State University Primo search McQueen, David (1998) Television: A Media Student`s Guide Arnold Primo search Nelson, Robin (1997) TV Drama in Transition: Forms, Values and Cultural Change Macmillan Primo search Rucker, Allen (2000) The Sopranos: A Family History London: Channel 4 Books/Macmillan Primo search Selby, Keith & Ron Cowdery (1995) How To Study Television Macmillan Primo search Self, David (1984) Television Drama: An Introduction Macmillan Primo search Brundson, Charlotte (Autumn 98) Structure of anxiety: recent British television crime fiction` in Screen, vol 39, no 3 Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6