CCS 301 Theorizing Cinema and Cultural Studies: Cultural Studies and Media Theory

Stony Brook University Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory College of Arts and Sciences Course Instructor: Brent Smith-Casanueva Office Hours: Office: HUM 2059 E-mail: bsmith888@gmail.com Please understand that this syllabus represents a contract between instructor and student. You are responsible for reading and making sure that you understand everything in this syllabus. If you have any questions or need any clarification, please speak with me immediately. Note: All dates and assignments on the schedule are subject to change. I will notify you, in writing, of any changes in advance. Course Description: Catalog Description Recent trends in critical theory applied to the study of film, television, literature, popular music, and other types of "cultural production." In-depth analyses of specific literary, visual, and musical texts are situated within structures of power among communities, nations, and individuals. Exploration of how identities of locality, gender, ethnicity, race, and class are negotiated through cultural forms. Focus Since the early days of the Birmingham CCCS, the study of media has been a central focus of cultural studies. Prominent cultural studies scholars like Stuart Hall and David Morley have thoroughly interrogated the function of media in society and theorized the modes of production, circulation and reception of media texts. These discussions have not, however, taken place in isolation but rather have developed through a (sometimes antagonistic) dialog with other traditions of media studies and approaches to theorizing media. In this course, we will examine developments in th cultural studies approach to media through the lens provided by these dialogs. Readings will include both key cultural studies texts as well as texts from film theory, mass communication studies, German media theory, and feminist media studies, amongst others. Required Texts Mitchel, W.J.T. and Mark B.N. Hansen, eds. Critical Terms in Media Studies (ISBN: 9780226532554)

Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and Douglas M. Kellner. Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks (ISBN: 9780470658086) All required texts are available in the bookstore Additional readings are available on Blackboard (BB)

Recommended Texts Hall, Stuart et al. Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 197279 (ISBN: 9780415079068) Spigel, Lynn. Welcome to the Dreamhouse (ISBN: 9780822326960) Attendance and Make Up Policy: While not strictly required, regular attedance is highly recommended. Also, any plans to make up an assignment (for excused absences only) must be made in advance. Required Work and Grading Scale: Attendance and Participation (10%) While I do not take attendance, regular participation in class discussions and activities is essential to creating a productive classroom environment and to enabling your development in the course. Thus, participation will be factored in as part of your final grade. Reading Questions (30% - 5% each) For each class session with assigned readings, there will be 2-3 reading questions to which you will be asked to respond. Your responses are to be posted to Blackboard prior to the beginning of class. I will randomly select 6 of your submissions throughout the semester to grade. They will be graded primarily for evidence of your completion of the reading and effort to engage with the ideas presented. Please note that if you did not submit responses for a particular day, and I select that day to grade, you will receive a zero. Blog Posts (30% - 10% each) You will be required to make three entries throughout the semester on the collaborative class blog. Your entries should engage with a specific issue/question/debate in media and cultural studies drawing from assigned readings and in-class discussion. Collaborative Keywords Wiki (30%) Throughout the course, we will come across a variety of crucial key terms for media and cultural studies scholarship. You will have the opportunity to choose one of these terms at the beginning of the semester and will create a wiki entry that provides a geneaology of the term, tracing the different ways it has been understood and used in the readings. Grading Scale:

A AB+

93-100% 90-92.9% 87-89.9%

B BC+

84-86.9% 80-83.9% 77-79.9%

C CD+

74-76.9% 70-73.9% 67-69.9%

D DF

64-66.9% 60-63.9% <59.9%

Class Protocol As we are all adults, and you chose this course and time slot, I expect you to enter class with an attitude ready for learning and to show respect for your classmates and me. Any disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Also, all electronic devices, including but not limited to ipods, laptops and cell phones must be turned off and put away during class. Failure to follow these policies will result in your removal from the classroom. Class Resources Library resources: http://library.stonybrook.edu Blackboard: http://blackboard.stonybrook.edu DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS) STATEMENT If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services, ECC (Educational Communications Center) Building, room128, (631) 632-6748. They will determine with you what accommodations, if any, are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential. Students who require assistance during emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their needs with their professors and Disability Support Services. For procedures and information go to the following website: http://www.stonybrook.edu/ehs/fire/disabilities ] ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT: Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report any suspected instances of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. Faculty in the Health Sciences Center (School of Health Technology & Management, Nursing, Social Welfare, Dental Medicine) and School of Medicine are required to follow their schoolspecific procedures. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/ CRITICAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students' ability to learn. Faculty in the HSC Schools and the School of Medicine are required to follow their school-specific procedures.

Course Schedule Cultural Studies and the Critique of Mass Culture Week 1 1/27

Syllabus and course introduction 1/29 Leavis, F. R. and Denys Thompson. Introduction. Culture and Environment. London: Chatto & Windus, 1962. 1-10 (BB) Williams, Raymond. F.R. Leavis. Culture and Society 1780-1950. New York: Columbia UP, 1983. 252-64 (BB) Screening: The Common Pursuit (1992) Week 2 2/03 Rosenberg, Bernard. Mass Culture in America. Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America. New York: The Free Press, 1959. 3-12 (BB) MacDonald, Dwight. A Theory of Mass Culture. Ibid. 59-73 (BB) 2/05 Williams, Raymond. Culture is Ordinary. The Raymond Williams Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. 10-24 (BB) ----. Culture. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Screening: Modern Times (1936) Cultural Studies and Mass Communication Theory Week 3 2/10 Peters, Mass Media. Mitchell and Hansen 266-79. Carey, James. Mass Communication and Cultural Studies (BB) 2/12 Gernber, George. Toward a General Model of Communication (BB) Lasswell, H.D. The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. The Communication of Ideas. Edited by Lyman Bryson. New York: Harper, 1948 (BB) Screening: Network (1976) Week 4 2/17 Hall, Encoding/Decoding. Kellner and Durham 137-44 Johnson, Richards. What is Cultural Studies Anyways? (BB) 2/19

Carey. A Cultural Approach to Communication and Overcoming Resistance to Cultural Studies (BB) Screening: Weed (CNN Documentary) Ideology, Hegemony, and Media Week 5 2/24 Marx and Engels, The Ruling Class and the Ruling Ideas. Kellner and Durham 31-33 Gramsci, (i) History of the Subaltern Classes; (ii) The Kellner and Durham 34-36 Due: Blog Post #1 2/26 Althusser, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. Kellner and Durham 80-88 Hall. The Rediscovery of Ideology: Return of the Repressed in Media Studies. Culture, Society and the Media. Edited by Michael Gurevitch et al. London and New York: Methuen, 1982. 56-90 (BB) Screening: V for Vendetta (2005) Week 6 3/03 Gerbner. Cultivation Analysis: An Overview. Communication (October-December 2000): 3-12 (BB) Bailey, Terri Ann. Critical Cultural Studies and Cultivation Theory: Points of Convergence (BB) 3/05 Heck, Marina Camargo. The Ideological Dimension of Media Messages. Culture, Media, Language. 122-27 (BB) Hall. Recent Developments in Theories of Language and Ideology: A Critical Note. Ibid. 15762 (BB) Screening: The Hunger Games (2012) Cultural Studies and Political Economy Week 7 3/10 Garnham, Contributions to a Political Economy of Mass-Communication. Kellner and Durham 166-84 Graeber, Exchange. Mitchell and Hansen 217-32 3/12

Babe, Robert E. Genealogy of Political Economy. Cultural Studies and Political Economy: Toward a New Integration. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009. 13-60 (BB) Screening: The Myth of the Liberal Media (1998) Week 8 No Class Spring Break Week 9 3/24 Maxwell, Richard. Political Economy within Cultural Studies. A Companion to Cultural Studies. Edited by Toby Miller. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. 116-38 (BB) McChesney, Robert W. Is there Any Hope for Cultural Studies? Monthly Review 47, no. 10 (1996): 1-18 (BB) 3/26 Garnham. Political Economy and Cultural Studies: Reconciliation or Divorce? Critical Studies in Mass Communication 12, no. 1 (1995): 62-71 (BB) Grossberg, Lawrence. Cultural Studies vs. Political Economy: Is Anybody Else Bored with this Debate? Ibid. 72-81 (BB) Screening: TBA Cultural Studies and Film Theory Week 10 3/31 Turner, Graeme. Cultural Studies and Film. Film Studies: Critical Approaches. Edited by John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. 193-99 (BB) Baudry, Jean-Louis. Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematrographic Apparatus. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Edited by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. 355-65 (BB) Due: Blog Post #2 4/02 Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Kellner and Durham 267-74 Morley, David. Texts, Readers, Subjects. Culture, Media, Language. 163-76 (BB) Screening: Rear Window (1954) Feminist Media/Cultural Studies Week 11 4/07

Ang, Ien and Joke Hermes. Gender and/in Media Consumption. Living Room Wars: Rethinking Media Audiences. New York: Routledge, 1996. 109-33 (BB) Meehan, Gendering the Commodity Audience: Critical Media Research, Feminism, and Political Economy. Kellner and Durham 242-48 4/09 Ang. Melodramatic Identifications: Television Fiction and Womens Fantasy. Living Room Wars. 85-97 (BB) Hobson, Dorothy. Housewives and the Mass Media. Media, Culture, Language. 105-16 (BB) Screening: Dawsons Creek (1 episode) Week 12 4/14 hooks, Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance. Kellner and Durham 308-17 Hill-Collins, Booty Call: Sex, Violence, and Images of Black Masculinity. Ibid. 318-336 4/16 Spigel, The Suburban Home Companion. Welcome to the Dreamhouse. 31-59 (BB) Screening: TBA Cultural Studies and Media Technology Week 13 4/21 Johnston, Technology. Mitchell and Hansen 199-216 TBA 4/23 McLuhan, The Medium is the Message. Kellner and Durham 100-106 Williams, Raymond. The Technology and the Society. The New Media Reader. 289-300 (BB) Screening: Caprica (1 episode) Week 14 4/28 Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Kellner and Durham 3752. McRobbie, Angela. The Place of Walter Benjamin in Cultural Studies. The Cultural Studies Reader. Edited by Simon During. London and New York: Routledge, 1999. 77-96 (BB) 4/30

Zielinski, Siegfried. Orientation. Audiovisions: Cinema and Television as Entractes in History. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 1999. 11-24 (BB) Winthrop-Young, Geoffrey. Cultural Studies and German Media Theory. New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory. Edited by Gary Hall and Clare Birchall. Edinburgh: U of Edinburgh Press, 2006. 88-104 (BB) Screening: TBA Week 15 5/05 Thacker, Biomedia. Mitchell and Hansen 117-31 Galloway, Networks. Ibid. 280-97 Due: Blog Post #3 5/07 Course Wrap-Up Week 16 5/14 Keywords Wiki Entry Due