LITR19053 - North American Fiction and Film

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

This course examines a selection of North American, nineteenth and twentieth century texts (fiction and film) by focusing on North American cultural and critical orthodoxies as well as challenges which have been made to these orthodoxies.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level Not Applicable
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
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).

Assessment Overview

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. Written Assessment 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%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2013 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 86.36% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 57.89% 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: Course evaluations
Feedback:
 Student response: "I found the best aspects of this course is how it has expanded the texts that I read and increased my appreciation for books I normally would never read. It has also helped me decipher such texts much easier and in turn, really understand a text I normally never would".

Recommendation:
 Continue to offer this course.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Course evaluations
Feedback:
 Some students commented on the quantity and selection of set texts.

Recommendation:
 The course is designed as a survey course which takes students out of their usual sample space. This approach works with most students. However, I will spend more time in the lectures and online explaining why this approach works best in courses of this type.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Course Evaluations
Feedback:
 Student response: "I really enjoyed the way the course made me think and view North American Film and Fiction in a different life".

Recommendation:
 Continue to offer this course.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Course evaluations
Feedback:
 Student response: "I was really looking forward to this course but the annoying assessment items outweighed how cool the actual course is. The book review article was really confusing. I know how to write a book review...but what is a book review article?"

Recommendation:
 Detailed instructions and student samples are provided in the course material. This will be highlighted more for the students in future.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. to develop in students the skills to analyse selected North American novels and films of the twentieth century within a framework of issues such as ideology, gender, race and the politics of literature. 
  2. to examine the way various texts and relevant cultural discourses are used in the construction of various American identities and communities, and the attempts that have been made to negotiate these constructions.
  3. to promote an understanding of the complicity between literature and ideology, and of the ways that texts operate as sites of ideological struggle, particularly as exemplified in the set texts.
  4. To foster the following generic skills:
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
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 • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10
1 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •