Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will be introduced to the study of film, TV and other media by examining theories and practices associated with genres including crime and fantasy, and modes of representation such as realism. By learning to apply basic semiotic analysis to selected texts, you will examine the ways in which popular genres both reflect and construct the meaning of contemporary life, and you will explore how these genres both challenge and support normative ideologies as well as model everyday behaviour. This unit functions as an introduction to more advanced studies in literary and cultural studies.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 20% |
| 2. Presentation | 40% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2020 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 83.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 27.27% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Unit Evaluation
The Moodle site was a little unorganised.
Work is underway to make the Moodle site easier to navigate by creating a Learning Activities tab that clarifies the steps to understanding the weekly topic.
The new tile format will ensure uniformity and organization in Moodle.
Source: Unit Evaluation
The zoom sessions overlapped with other subjects and I was unable to attend
Unfortunately, there is no perfect time to hold a Zoom session. However, they are recorded and made available to be viewed at any time.
Closer attention to timetabling will help with this problem
Source: Unit Evaluation
Need more explanation of how to structure assessment pieces, especially for first year students.
Exemplars and "how to" guides are provided but more resources along these lines are in development.
New assessments will be designed and explained with greater clarity
Source: Unit Evaluation
I had trouble linking some of the resources to my assessments.
Closer scrutiny of alignment of learning resources to assessments in the replacement unit
In Progress
Source: Unit Evaluation
Perhaps some new/updated content
In the new replacement unit, all content will be updated
In Progress
Source: Unit Evaluation
Lectures need to be more structured
Lectures will be written in a more structured way in alignment with unit learning outcomes and assessment items
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Recognise the defining elements of various popular genres and analyse the significance of these elements in particular texts
- Articulate the ways in which popular genres both affirm and subvert the 'norms' of culture, and function as sites of contestation over the meanings, values and ideologies represented within them
- Demonstrate advanced skills in reading, research and textual analysis
- Show increased confidence and competence in written, oral, on-line and group communication skills using the vocabulary of concepts provided by the unit.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 5 - Team Work | • | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | ||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | ||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | |||||||