106-003 Media and Cultural Difference

Usually fifty points of first-year arts including at least 25 points from a specified list of subject areas.

This subject will examine how audiences read media representations of social and cultural difference. Students will explore the consumption of media-constructed difference in terms of identity, ethnicity, class, gender, race, age and sub-culture. We will be interested in the relative invisibility and visibility of the construction of the media message. Case studies (which will be largely concerned with Australia) may include studies of leadership, sport, the body, conflict and war, the nation, the region, events beyond the national borders. These case studies will highlight changes in media literacy or competency in a range of audiences. The subject will draw from various media forms, including print, television news and current affairs, television infotainment (including lifestyle programming), soaps, radio talk-back and cyber-space.

• have advanced research and analytic skills;

• show critical and ethical self-awareness;

• have the ability to develop and communicate effective arguments in both oral and written form;

• have advanced skills in media and information literacy and management.

Class participation and a 10-minute paper presentation (10%). An essay of 1500 words 30% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 60% (due at the end of the semester). Students are required to attend a minimum of nine tutorials in order to qualify to have their work assessed in this subject.

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.