COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to give students an understanding of the larger industrial and governmental regimes that regulate and in other ways shape the audiovisual media that we consume, focusing on two media in particular: film and television. As such, it is a course dedicated to understanding the concepts of political economy, with a central assumption of the class and indeed the field as a whole being that a vital aspect of media literacy is understanding the relationships that exist between power (economic and political) and the audiovisual media we end up watching. Though such forces have been incredibly important to the historical development of the media, this course will be more focused on the contemporary period and possible future directions in the continuing evolution of the audiovisual industries.
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of how films and televisual content are financed and how they circulate in global, continental and national contexts.
2. Identify and critically analyze the key institutional bodies ¿ such as governmental organizations and for-profit corporations ¿ that collectively make up, and thereby wield great influence over, the global film and television industries.
3.Demonstrate knowledge of the central debates of the political economy of contemporary screen media. These include:
¿ The ongoing liberalization of the global media industries;
¿ The role of the state and various intergovernmental bodies in regulating these industries;
¿ The increasing disruption of the traditional screen industries by internet-based companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple;
¿ The agency of media producers and audiences in the midst of such vast industries.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1: Course Orientation.
Week 2: Global Hollywood and/vs. ¿Independent¿ Structures.
Week 3: The Contemporary European Film Industries.
Week 4: The Spanish Film Industry.
Week 5: Film Industries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Week 6: The Impact of Digital Technologies on Film Production and Circulation.
Week 7: Midterm Exam ¿ Global Media Giants and the Television Industry.
Week 8: : European Television and the Public Service Monopoly/Duopoly Tradition.
Week 9: Deregulation in Europe; Cable and Satellite in the USA.
Week 10: Contemporary European Television Trends.
Week 11: Guest Lecture.
Week 12: Media Convergences in the 2000s.
Week 13: Digital Technologies and the Future of ¿Television¿.
Week 14: Course Revision.
Final Exam.