Moodle

This course introduces students to various theoretical and practical approaches to different media and their roles within society. During the first part of the seminar, you will be made familiar with media history and theory as well as with the basics of film analysis, such as film narrative, cinematic techniques, and genre theory. The second part of the seminar will consist of analysing the 2004 BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s social novel North and South (1855) and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s gothic novel Dracula (1897). Our discussions will be informed by the contexts of the Victorian period, with a particular focus on the rapid technological and economic changes of the Industrial Revolution and their effects on British society.

Watching the assigned films and reading the assigned texts in preparation for each class is mandatory. In order to gain credits for this course, students will have to participate in a case study, which they will present in class.

This seminar will provide students with an understanding of contemporary Irish literature, its engagement with historical and social realities, and its contribution to ongoing conversations about gender, class, and identity. 

Anna Burns’ Milkman, which won the 2018 Booker Prize, is told from the perspective of a young woman living during the Troubles of late 1970s-Northern Ireland. The novel’s distinctly female perspective sheds light on a traumatized society, offering a framework for discussions on, e.g., societal expectations and the oppression of women through language.  

Sally Rooney’s Normal People deals with coming of age in Ireland after the collapse of the Celtic tiger. Towards the end of term, we will also discuss the TV series based on Rooney’s millennial novel, starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones.