Media and Time

Overview

The media are time-based; they have a narrative flow from line to line and scene to scene and episode to episode, with each programme fitting into the wider flow of its schedule or platform, and into the wider schedule of the audience’s day and life. The media are also key mechanisms for communicating ideas and information about history and about potential futures, through fact and fiction. This module explores the ways that the media engage with time, drawing mainly on television. This will include the presentation of history and possible futures through both fact and fiction, including consideration of the political and cultural role of history and historical drama. It will include engagement with key concepts such as heritage drama, nostalgia and authenticity. It will also include consideration of the temporal nature of the media themselves, such as in their narrative construction and scheduling, and how that plays into the lives of the audience.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

Analyse media texts in relation to key ideas relating to time, history, memory and nostalgia;

Analyse the social and cultural role of history as related through the media;

Analyse media narratives in relation to their temporal construction.

Skills

Students will practice and develop core academic skills of research, analysis and communication through class work, independent research and assessed work.

Analysis and interpretation of media texts in relation to specific theoretical concepts.

Understanding of the social and cultural significance of the representation of history and potential futures in the media.

Assessment

None