HUMN 3460Media Criticism

Dr. Gerald Lucas

Introduction

This course is designed as the firstpart of a sequence with HUMN4460 Senior Seminar in NewMedia and will provide a founda-tion for further study by equip-ping students with the skills re-quired to interpret and analyze various media forms, especiallyphotographic, cinematic, andtelevisual texts.Students will examine filmand television as visual media,cultural forces, and economicinstitutions. Primary attention willbe paid to how the fundamentalelements of media combine tocreate meaning and tell stories,the forms media texts take, andthe way these structures in turninfluence viewers/listeners. Thecourse will also explore what me-dia is and why various mediaforms have developed in certainways through history and acrossnations.By the end of the term stu-dents should be able to demon-strate a working knowledge of theterms and concepts underlying contemporary media studies, theeconomic, social, and politicalimpact of the media industries,and the implications of the ongo-ing advances of computers andinformation technologies.

Materials

The following books are requiredfor the class; be sure to bring themto class everyday reading is as-signed from them (no excuses):

‣

Gill Branston and Roy Stafford(eds.).

The Media Student’s Book

,Fourth Edition. 2006.

‣

Paul Marris and Sue Thorn-ham (eds).

Media Studies: A Reader

, Second Edition. 1999. And I recommend the following to compliment your study of me-dia:

‣

Raymond Williams.

Keywords

,Revised Edition. 1983.

Continued on page 3

Dr. Gerald Lucasmedia@grlucas.nethttp://litmuse.netHUMN 3460.01 Tues 5:30-7:50pH/SS-122

MEDIA

CRITICISM

F a l l 2 0 0 8

There are three major requirements for MediaCriticism, each of which must be successfully com-pleted to pass the course. Assignments are weighedon a point system, depending on their importance.For example, a reading quiz might have 10 pointswhile the ﬁnal exam might have 200.

Final Exam

A final cumulative exam will be given that will test your knowledge of the subject matter (texts, lecturematerial, and vocabulary), your ability to synthesizethis material, and your creativity in going beyond thediscussion and lecture materials. The final exam willinclude vocabulary, identification, and interpreta-tion. All exam grades will be based upon objectiveknowledge of the material, thoroughness, depth of insight, precision, and originality.

Writing

To get you thinking more critically about the majorissues covered, you are required to respond to classreadings in writing both formally and informally. Allwriting should be thoughtful, refer to speciﬁc por-tions of the text, use the critical vocabulary, and citecorrectly using MLA citation method.

ORUM

Informal forum responses will be written online onLitMUSE, so the entire class can beneﬁt from read-ing your thoughts. The forum will also give you achance to respond to others’ ideas. Your writing inthe forum should total at least 350 words per week and directly address the weeks’ subject matter.

ITE

Three times (see Schedule) during the semester, youwill have to contribute the class web site. For this, you will pick your best forum and/or daily work,revise it, and submit it in a more formal way (includ-ing citations) to a class web site.

Daily Work

Regular class attendance, question posing, and activeparticipation in classroom discussions are required.Participation, effort, and attitude will count signiﬁ-cantly in this course. Quizzes, other class activities,and homework assignments and

ad hoc

projects notexplicitly outlined above will be considered dailywork.

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to makethe innocent guilty and to make theguilty innocent, and that's power. Be-cause they control the minds of themasses.”

Malcolm X

REQUIREMENTS

M E D I A

C R I T I C I S M

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“All media exist toinvest our lives withartiﬁcial perceptionsand arbitrary values”

Marshall McLuhan

3Materials

(cont. from page 1)

LitMUSE

You are required to have an account onLitMUSE, the server that will support allof your work in this class. As a part of this requirement, you should have accessto a computer with Internet capabilityand a current web browser, like Firefox.

Pen and Paper

You should also bring an ink interface of some sort, as well as dead trees on whichto take notes. You should not sit in classlike you’re watching TV: take notes.

Electronics

Materials, like cell phones, food, maga-zines, iPods, etc., should be left in yourcar. If you answer a cell phone in myclass, I will expect you to leave. In addi-tion, I do not allow class discussions to betaped, so do not bring any voice record-ing devices to class. You may use laptopsunless I ask you not to bring them.

Rated PG-13

Finally, since class lecture and discussionwill often touch on the controversial, thiscollege classroom is not an appropriateplace for children.

Policies

You will be accountable for knowing andpracticing each of these policies. Considerthem like the law: the excuse “I didn’tknow” will carry no weight.

Assignments

Your work represents you. Therefore, Iexpect everything you turn into me toexemplify the very best of your profes-sional self. Please proofread all writing before submission.

Attendance

Attendance will be taken at every classmeeting. If you come in late, it is yourresponsibility to inform me of your pres-ence that day. If you fail to do so, youare absent. Two tardies count as oneabsence. There are no “excused ab-sences” in my class, but you are allowedto miss one class before your grade suf-fers. Each additional class missed beyondthe allotted one will result in your ﬁnalsemester’s grade being dropped one let-ter.

Deadlines

Late work is not acceptable and will re-ceive a zero. Technical, computer mal-functions are not acceptable excuses forlate work. Quizzes and in-class activitiescannot be made up for any reason.

The best and quickest way of contacting me is via email. Only use the email ad-dress that I provided on this documentfor class business: <media@grlucas.net>.

Grades

Letter grades are based upon a tradi-tional ten-point scale. If you would like toknow your ofﬁcial grade, you should seeme during my ofﬁce hours or make anappointment.

Plagiarism

Any time you use ideas that are not yourown — be they paraphrased or copied verbatim — in anything that you write, you must supply a citation in MLA for-mat. Willful plagiarism will result inautomatic failure of this class and will besubmitted to the Dean for further poten-tial consequences. See<http://litmuse.net/plagiarism/> formore information on avoiding plagia-rism.

Special Needs

Any student who has special needs theCounseling and Career Center and ﬁllout the appropriate paperwork.

Technology

Computer competency is an integralskill in any discipline. Students should befamiliar with the general uses of a com-puter and should be willing to put forththe effort to learn what they need to inorder to succeed in the course.

M E D I A

C R I T I C I S M

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“Cinema, radio, television,magazines are a school ofinattention: people lookwithout seeing, listen inwithout hearing.”

Robert Bresson

“The problem with communication ... is the

illusion

that it has been accomplished.”

George Bernard Shaw