106-448 Theorising the Spectator

Formerly available as 106-092. Students who have completed 106-092 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in English, cultural studies, creative writing or gender studies.

This subject mobilises the figure of the spectator as a conceptual focus through which to represent and explore various issues and debates within current cultural theory and criticism. Working across the interdisciplinary traditions of cultural, film and media studies, it addresses competing arguments about spectatorship, assessing their engagement with and contributions to critical understandings of contemporary culture, history and identity. Students should become familiar with the question of spectatorship in psychoanalytic-semiotic theories of the cinematic apparatus; Marxist accounts of ideological interpellation in the mass media, cultural studies models of audience negotiation and subcultural resistance; critical theories about the cultural transformations of modernity; feminist and queer debates about the sexual dynamics of popular culture; postmodern accounts of the virtual subjectivities of cyberculture.

• as a result of attendance at scheduled classes, participation in planned activities and discussion groups, and timely completion of essays and assignments, acquire Generic Skills in the following areas:

• social, ethical and cultural understanding of self and others;

• critical analysis and synthesis;

• effective written and oral communication;

• information management and information literacy;

• teamwork, flexibility and tolerance;

• time management and planning.

A 500 word research proposal 10% (due mid-semester) and a 4500 word essay 90% (due at the end of semester) for 4th year students. A 1000 word research proposal 10% (due mid-semester) and a 5000 word essay 90% (due at the end of semester) for masters students.

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.