Students
MAS 304 – Screens, Images, Ideas
2016 – S2 Day
General Information
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| Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Convenor/Lecturer
Andrew Frost
By appointment
Tutor
Intan Paramaditha
By appointment
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|---|---|
| Credit points |
Credit points
3
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| Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
39cp
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| Corequisites |
Corequisites
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| Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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| Unit description |
Unit description
This unit analyses issues in film culture by screenings and discussion of fictional and non-fictional media including films, television and online content from a range of countries. The unit examines contemporary and historical examples and their relation of philosophical concepts, critical and genre theory and cultural contexts.
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Important Academic Dates
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
- Produce and communicate work in a manner consistent with accepted academic standards
Assessment Tasks
| Name | Weighting | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Online Quizzes | 45% | As Scheduled |
| Major Essay | 55% | November 2, 2016 |
Online Quizzes
Due: As Scheduled
Weighting: 45%
In MAS304 it's important to understand key debates, theoretical positions and concepts in the study of science fiction genre cinema.
To do this we have divided weekly readings into two categories: required readings and recommended readings
Required readings are those texts that offer a critical analysis and/or interpretation of a film and/or discuss critical ideas and concepts specific to science fiction and cinema and while they may not discuss the films in the unit directly they are of central importance to understanding the genre.
Recommended readings are texts that support and expand the context of the films, their critical reception and place in genre history, and include interviews, scene analysis, reviews etc.
*To assess your understanding and reading of required readings, and your understanding of lecture content, you will undertake three online multiple choice quizzes accessed via iLearn. These are worth 15% of your total mark each, 45% in total.
The questions will be based on critical and core readings and on lecture content and they will be scheduled in weeks four, eight and 12 of the semester.
Students will be notified by a unit announcement on iLearn when the quizzes are available for completion.
Marking Criteria
- Ability to recognise the correct answer[s] to quiz questions
- Demonstrated understanding and comprehension of unit readings and lecture content
On successful completion you will be able to:
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
Major Essay
Due: November 2, 2016
Weighting: 55%
Your final assignment will be an Academic Essay:
You will be required to write an essay of 2,000 words [not including footnotes or bibliography] that responds to the following task:
Choosing one film from the unit, give a critical account of the film's key themes, its concepts and ideas and how these aspects are conveyed by the film itself, with reference to its mise en scene, narrative structure, and place within genre theory.
Your essay will demonstrate an understanding of one or more of the central concepts from the unit, as well as your ability to apply these concepts to the film you have researched and to films included in the unit schedule, while referencing at least four of the required unit readings, and three academic readings from outside it. [Non-academic citations are not acceptable].
Your essay will be referenced using the Harvard Inline Referencing System and will include a list of referenced works on the last page of the essay. [References cited will only be those cited in the text of your essay]. The essay should include your name and student number on the top of the first page, be double line spaced and justified to the left hand side of the page.
Please submit your essay to Turnitin via the link on the unit iLearn page by 11.58pm on the due date.
Marking Criteria
- Evidence of a depth of research and reading
- Demonstration of further research beyond unit readings
- Demonstrate critical engagement with central concepts and theory of the course and be able to apply these to your film example[s].
- Present a clearly structured essay and well-supported argument
- Ability to contextualise the film as part of film history
- Ability to relate the film to one (or more) of the concepts evident in the core readings
- The use of academic Harvard inline referencing
On successful completion you will be able to:
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
- Produce and communicate work in a manner consistent with accepted academic standards
Delivery and Resources
CLASSES
Screenings: Tuesdays, 9.30am-12pm, Y3A T1
Lectures: Tuesdays, 3-4pm, Y3A T1
Tutorials: Please check with MQ Timetables for the time and location of your tutorial.
ATTENDANCE
Students are required to attend each screening and tutorials.
REQUIRED READINGS
Required readings will be available through the Library website, linked from the unit iLearn page.
Week 1:
Required Readings:
Darko Suvin, ‘On the Poetics of the Science Fiction’, College English, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Dec., 1972), pp. 372-382
J.P. Telotte, ‘Introduction: The World of Science Fiction Film’, Science Fiction Film, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. pp. 3-32
Carl Freedman, ‘Kubrick’s "2001" and the Possibility of a Science-Fiction Cinema’, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jul., 1998), pp. 300-318
Recommended Readings:
Geoff King & Tanya Krzywinksa, ‘Industrial Light and Magic’, Science Fiction Cinema: From Outer Space to Cyberspace, London: Wallflower, 2000. pp. 58-94
Dave Addey, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, Typeset in The Future. https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/01/31/2001-a-space-odyssey/
Week 2:
Required Readings:
Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. ‘Science Fiction and Empire’, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, Social Science Fiction (Jul., 2003), pp. 231-245
Cyndy Hendershot, ‘The Atomic Scientist, Science Fiction Films & Paranoia: The Day The Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth and Killers from Space’, Paranoia and the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1999. pp. 23-39
Recommended Reading
Peter Biskind, ‘Friends in High Places’, Seeing is Believing, or How Hollywood Taught Us To Stop Worrying and Love the ‘50s. London: Bloomsbury, 2001. pp. 145-159
Week 3:
Required Readings:
Susan Sontag, ‘Imagination of Disaster’, Against Interpretation and Other Essays, New York: Dell Publishing, 1966. pp. 212- 228
Aaron Kerner, ‘Gojira vs. Godzilla: Catastrophic Allegories’, Ritual and Event. Mark Franko, ed. London: Routledge. pp 109-123
Jason Barr, ‘Disasters, Man Made and Natural’, The Kaiju Film: A Critical Study of Cinema’s Biggest Monsters, Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2016: pp. 37-67
Recommended Reading:
Tim Martin, ‘Godzilla: why the Japanese original is no joke’, The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10788996/Godzilla-why-the-Japanese-original-is-no-joke.html
Week 4:
Required Readings:
Eric Greene, ‘Planet of the Apes’, Planet of the Apes as American Myth, London: McFarland & Company, Inc. 1996. pp. 21-54
Sandy Rankin, ‘Disalienation and the Irrepressible, Revolutionary Wish: Apes, Heston, Ludics, Home’, The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 40, No. 6, 2007 pp 1019 -1031
Jon Fitzgerald and Philip Hayward, ‘The Sound of an Upside-Down World: Jerry Goldsmith's Landmark Score for Planet of the Apes (1968)’, Music and the Moving Image, 12 July 2013, Vol.6 (2), pp.32-43
Recommended Readings:
Miranda J. Banks, ‘Monumental Fictions: National Monument as a Science Fiction Space’, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 30:3, 2002: pp. 136-145
Week 5:
Required Readings:
Roz Kaveney, ‘Alien’, From Alien to The Matrix: Reading Science Fiction Film, London: IB Tauris, 2005: pp. 131-148
Judith Newton, ‘Feminism and Anxiety in Alien’, Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema, Annette Kuhn, ed. London: Verso, 1990: pp. 82-90
Barbara Creed, ‘Horror and the Archaic Mother’, The Monstrous-Feminine, London: Routledge, 1993: pp. 16-30
Recommended Reading:
Catherine Constable, ‘Becoming the Monster’s Mother: Morphologies of Identity in the Alien Series’, Alien Zone II: The Spaces of Science Fiction Cinema, Annette Kuhn, ed. London: Verso, 1999. pp. 173-202
Week 6:
Required Readings:
Jean Baudrillard, ‘Simulacra and Science Fiction’, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 18, No. 3, Science Fiction and Postmodernism (Nov. 1991): pp. 309-313
Paul Meehan, ‘Blade Runners, Terminators and Neuromancers: Cyberpunk Cinema, 1980-1989’, Tech-Noir: The Fusion of Science Fiction and Film Noir, London: McFarland & Company, p 150- 191
Jason Sperb, ‘Scarring the New Flesh: Time Passing in the Simulacrum of Videodrome’, InTheory, Vol. 3, February 2006. http://intertheory.org/sperb2006.htm
Recommended Reading:
Steffan Hantke, ‘Spectacular Optics: The Deployment of Special Effects in David Cronenberg’s Films’, Film Criticism, Winter, 2004, Vol.29 (2), pp. 34-52
Week 7:
Required Readings:
Janet Steiger, ‘Future Noir: Contemporary Representations of Visionary Cities’, Alien Zone II: The Spaces of Science Fiction Cinema, Annette Kuhn, ed. London: Verso, pp. 97-141
Wong Kin Yuen, ‘On the Edge of Spaces: "Blade Runner", "Ghost in the Shell", and Hong Kong's Cityscape’, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Mar., 2000), pp. 1-21
Heywon Shin, ‘Voice and Vision in Oshii Mamoru’s Ghost in the Shell: Beyond Cartesian Optics’, Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 6 (1), pp. 7-23.
Recommended Reading:
Dani Cavallaro, ‘Ghost in the Shell’, The Cinema of Mamoru Oshii. London: McFarland & Co. Inc. Publishers, 2006: pp. 185-198.
Week 8:
Required Readings:
Jamie King, ‘Bug Planet: Frontier Myth in Starship Troopers’, Futures, Vol. 30, No. 10, 1998. pp. 1017–1026,
Florentine Strzelczyk, ‘Our Future-Our Past: Fascism, Postmodernism, and Starship Troopers (1997)’, Modernism/Modernity. Baltimore: Jan 2008. Vol. 15, Iss. 1; pp. 87-100 [13 pages].
Brian E. Crim, “A World That Works”: Fascism and Media Globalization in Starship Troopers, Film & History, Vol. 39.2, pp. 17-25
Recommended Reading:
Dan Shaw, ‘Great Directors: Paul Verhoeven’, Senses of Cinema, http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/verhoeven/
Week 9:
Required Readings:
Marcus O’Donnell, ‘Children of Men’s Ambient Apocalyptic Visions’, The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 27:1, Spring 2015; pp 16-30
Samuel Amago, ‘Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Future in Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men’, Discourse, Volume 32, Number 2, Spring 2010, pp. 212-235
Rjurik Davidson, ‘Hope in Children of Men’, Screen Education, No. 47, 2007. pp. 125-131.
Recommended Reading:
Ben Ogrodonik, ‘Focalisation Realism and Narrative Asymmetry in Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men’, Senses of Cinema, June 2014: http://sensesofcinema.com/2014/feature-articles/focalization-realism-and-narrative-asymmetry-in-alfonso-cuarons-children-of-men/
Week 10:
Required Readings:
Nicholas Rombes, ‘The White Worm: Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color’, Los Angeles Review of Books, June 10, 2013. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-white-worm-shane-carruths-upstream-color/
Joseph G. Kickasola, ‘Leading with the ear: Upstream Color and the cinema of respiration’, Film Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 4, pp. 60–74
Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg, ‘Upstream Color’, Science Fiction Film and Television, 2015, Vol.8 (1), pp.114-18
Recommended Reading:
Keith M. Johnston, ‘1990-2010 Science Fiction and The Mainstream’, Science Fiction: A Critical Introduction, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013; pp: 105-118.
Week 11:
Required Readings
Gerald Alva Miller Jr. ‘The Spectacle of Memory, Realism, Narrative and Time Travel Cinema’, Exploring the Limits of the Human Through Science Fiction. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2012: pp. 129-162
Jonathan Bignell, ‘Another Time, Another Space: Modernity, Subjectivity and The Time Machine’, Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader, Sean Redmond, ed. London: Wallflower Press, 2004: 136-144
Michael Sragow, ‘Deep Focus: Predestination’, Film Comment, January 8, 2015 http://www.filmcomment.com/blog/deep-focus-predestination/
Recommended Reading:
Theodore Sider, ‘Time travel, coincidences and counterfactuals’, Philosophical Studies 110: 2002 pp. 115–138
TECHNOLOGIES USED AND REQUIRED
Unit lectures will be delivered as videos online and will be accessible via iLearn. Details on readings, assessments and screenings will be available on iLearn. Students are expected to regularly check iLearn and their MQ email addresses for announcements.
Late Submissions
Tasks 10% or less. No extensions will be granted. Students who have not submitted the task prior to the deadline will be awarded a mark of 0 for the task, except for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved.
Tasks above 10%. Students who submit late work without an extension will receive a penalty of 10% per day. This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved.
SUBMISSIONS
All written work must be submitted to Turnitin, via the link on iLearn. Please make sure your full name, student number and tutor's name appears on the first page of your document. All written work should be double spaced and justified to the left of the page.
Please record your tutor's email address at the beginning of semester and questions about MAS 304 should first be directed to the unit convenor.
Students should ensure that they can receive emails sent to their MQ email address.
Unit Schedule
CONTENT ADVISORY
Please be advised: some of the films in the unit contain graphic on-screen violence, suggested off screen violence and disturbing themes. Although the films are widely available on DVD and online - and have been screened in Australian cinemas and on television - some viewers may find aspects of these films disturbing.
Week 1. Introduction to Science Fiction & Genre – 2001: A Space Odyssey [Dir. Stanley Kubrick, US, 1967]
Week 2. Cold War Fictions – The Day The Earth Stood Still – [Dir. Robert Wise, US, 1951]
Week 3. Atomic Transformations – Gojira [Godzilla], Dir. Ishiro Honda, 1954, Japan.
Week 4. Space, Race – Planet of the Apes [Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner, US, 1968]
Week 5. Feminisms – Alien [Dir. Ridley Scott, UK/US, 1979]
Week 6. Genre Blending and Post Modern SF – Videodrome, [Dir. David Cronenberg, Canada, 1983]
Week 7. Cyberpunk and The Science Fiction City – Kokaku Kidotai [Ghost In The Shell], [Dir. Mamouri Oshii, Japan, 1995]
Week 8. Science Fiction & Satire – Starship Troopers [Dir. Paul Verhoeven, US, 1997]
Week 9. Biology and Ethics - Children of Men [Dir. Alfonso Cuarón, UK, 2006]
Week 10. At The Limits of Genre - Upstream Colour [Dir. Shane Carruth, US, 2013]
Week 11. Timeslips – Predestination [Dir. Michael & Peter Spierig, Australia, 2014]
Policies and Procedures
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
New Assessment Policy in effect from Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy_2016.html. For more information visit http://students.mq.edu.au/events/2016/07/19/new_assessment_policy_in_place_from_session_2/
Assessment Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grading Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/complaint_management/procedure.html
Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
Student Code of Conduct
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/
Results
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
Additional information
MMCCS Session Re-mark Application http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download/?id=167914
Information is correct at the time of publication
Student Support
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Student Services and Support
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
Student Enquiries
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
IT Help
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
Graduate Capabilities
Creative and Innovative
Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
- Produce and communicate work in a manner consistent with accepted academic standards
Assessment task
- Major Essay
Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative
We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
Assessment tasks
- Online Quizzes
- Major Essay
Commitment to Continuous Learning
Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
- Produce and communicate work in a manner consistent with accepted academic standards
Assessment tasks
- Online Quizzes
- Major Essay
Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
Assessment tasks
- Online Quizzes
- Major Essay
Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
- Produce and communicate work in a manner consistent with accepted academic standards
Assessment tasks
- Online Quizzes
- Major Essay
Problem Solving and Research Capability
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
- Produce and communicate work in a manner consistent with accepted academic standards
Assessment tasks
- Online Quizzes
- Major Essay
Effective Communication
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop an expanded historical knowledge of genre film and theory
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
- Produce and communicate work in a manner consistent with accepted academic standards
Assessment tasks
- Online Quizzes
- Major Essay
Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Learning outcomes
- Understand the main debates relevant to a specific sub-region of film studies
- Develop skills in film-critical research and film-textual analysis
- Evaluate and appreciate different stylistic modes of writing about films
Assessment tasks
- Online Quizzes
- Major Essay
Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible
We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Assessment task
- Major Essay
Changes from Previous Offering
The unit has been developed to reflect a new course focus: the evolution of science fiction genre cinema since 1950, with reference to the critical study of genre theory and its relationship to films included in the unit, the study of mise-en-scene, and to a consideration of the modes of mainstream and independent film production. New course readings have been developed to reflect this focus. Assessment tasks have also been simplified to online quizzes and a final assignment.