100-104 Media Communications Theory

This subject is only available to students enrolled in the BA (Media and Communications), BA (Media and Communications)/Bachelor of Commerce, and BA (Media and Communications)/Bachelor of Laws.

Completion of 100 points of first-year arts subjects including 25 points of core Media and Communications subjects at first year.

This subject examines the major branches of Media and Communications theory at an intermediate level. Approaches are drawn from both humanities and social sciences, and will include medium theory, the media effects tradition, textual analysis, political economy of the media, postmodern theories, and theories of the information society. Key topics include ideology and semiotics, narrative and genre analysis, media globalisation and forms of audience research. Students will be presented with a range of case studies engaging with representations of gender and sexuality, class, race and ethnicity, and will investigate the ideological and institutional pressures that create patterns of media stereotyping. Students completing this subject will gain a deeper understanding of the diverse forces shaping the contemporary mediascape, and of the different theoretical traditions underpinning various research methodologies in the field of Media and Communication.

Class participation and written work totalling 4000 words. Students must attend at least 80% of classes to be eligible for assessment.

A subject reader will be available.