Australian Film and Literature (COMM 3048)
2009

Texts

y separately published work icon Australian National Cinema Tom O'Regan , London New York (City) : Routledge , 1996 8189440 1996 single work criticism (taught in 1 units)
y separately published work icon Film in Australia : An Introduction Albert Moran , Errol Vieth , Cambridge New York (City) : Cambridge University Press , 2006 Z1882610 2006 multi chapter work criticism (taught in 10 units) 'Film in Australia: An Introduction is a groundbreaking book that systematically addresses the wide-ranging output of Australian feature films. Adopting a genre approach, it gives a different take on Australian films made since 1970, bypassing the standard run of historical texts and actor- or character-driven studies of Australian film. Comedy, adventure, horror, science fiction, crime, art films and other types are analyzed with clarity and insight so the reader can recognize and understand all kinds of Australian films, whether they are contemporary or older features, obscure gems or classic blockbusters' (BOOK JACKET).
Australian film and literature readings: excerpts from key texts !$!Healy, Alice and Jared Thomas and Melinda Graefe (compilers)!$! !$!University of South Australia, DUCIER!$!2007
y separately published work icon Dispossession, Dreams & Diversity: Issues in Australian Studies David Carter , Frenchs Forest : Pearson Education Australia , 2006 Z1258484 2006 multi chapter work criticism (taught in 12 units) This work introduces key topics and questions about Australia as a society, a culture and a nation. It contains a useful chapter on Australian modernities, which deals in part with literature in the early to mid 20th century.
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Description

Australian literature and cinema which dramatises questions of diaspora, gender, sexuality, race, class, multiculturalism, and history; identity and subjectivity in Australian literature and cinema Indigenous voices, diasporic experience, feminist texts; patterns of silence and memory in questions of historiography; publishing, television and cinema industries; government intervention, national and global contexts; exploration of audience, medium, and the 'popular'; questions of adaptation and translation between media, and its significance to cultural capital; cultural landscape in literature and film, from geographical and colonial concepts to interconnections between modes of belonging, history, memory and family; the role of Indigenous writers and filmmakers in the formation of post-colonial literature and cinema.

Assessment

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

Have a postcolonial critical understanding of historical memory and representation in Australian literature and film

Understand key concepts in cultural studies, cinema & literary studies & the connections between them

Understand forms and consequences of national discourse, and its influence on expressive texts, audiences and arts policy

Be able to critically analyse chosen texts and make connections to wider cultural discourse and theory

Be competent in methods of close textual and cultural analysis in written and visual forms

Competency in research skills and ability to develop an effective written argument

Ability for making conceptual connections between representation and cultural issues/identities/subjectivities

Understand the institutional, economic and commercial contexts of the publishing and cinema industries in Australia, and its place in global markets and global cultures.

Book review: Textual Analysis - 500 - 15%; Mixed Mode Participation:

Group presentation (1000 words), Short discussion of 2 topics (2 x 250 words) - 1,500 - 40%; Major essay - 2,500 - 45%

Supplementary Texts

Pung, Alice [ed.] Growing up Asian in Australia 2008

Collins, Felicity and Therese Davis Australian Cinema after Mabo 2004

Elder, Catriona Being Australian : Narratives of National Identity 2007

Heiss, Anita [ed.] and Peter Minter [ed.] and Nicholas Jose[ed.] Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature 2008

Other Details

Levels: Undergraduate
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