COURSE UNIT TITLE

: VISUAL NARRATIVES IN AMERICA

DEGREE PROGRAMMES

Description of Individual Course Units

Course Unit Code Course Unit Title Type Of Course D U L ECTS
ELECTIVE

Offered By

American Culture and Literature

Level of Course Unit

First Cycle Programmes (Bachelor's Degree)

Course Coordinator

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR EVRIM ERSÖZ KOÇ

Offered to

American Culture and Literature

Course Objective

The aim of this course is to analyze and interpret the narrative and visual techniques in visual narratives that would include films, TV series, comics, etc. The analysis of the visual narratives also includes the necessary background on different film genres and subgenres.

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

1   To have information about the major themes in different genres of visual narratives
2   To understand the social, cultural and historical contexts of the selected visual narratives
3   To use basic terms and concepts to describe visual narratives
4   To make connections between different works and ideas
5   To analyze the selected visual narratives from different perspectives such as race, gender, religion, etc.

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Week Subject Description
1 Introduction Introduction
2 Bordwell & Thompson 1-316 "Film Art and Filmmaking," "Film Form," "Film Style" Discussion
3 Belton "Studio System" & "The Star System" Part II Genre and the Genre System: "Silent Film Melodrama" Discussion
4 Bordwell & Thompson "Musical" 332-336 Belton "The Musical" 142-162 La La Land, dir. Damien Chazelle Discussion
5 Belton "American Comedy" Adaptation, dir. Spike Jonze Discussion
6 Belton "War and Cinema" The Thin Red Line, dir. Terrence Malick Discussion
7 MIDTERM Discussion
8 Belton "Film Noir: Somewhere in the Night" 221-241 Sin City, dir. Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
9 Bordwell & Thompson "The Western" 328-332 Belton "The Making of the West" 243-271 Westworld, dir. Michael Crichton Discussion
10 Belton "Horror and Science Fiction" 272-295 Bordwell & Thompson "The Horror Film" 329-332 Annihilation, dir. Alex Garland Discussion
11 The Matrix, dir. Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski Discussion
12 Blade Runner 2049,dir. Denis Villeneuve Discussion
13 her, dir. Spike Jonze Discussion
14 Presentations
15 General Evaluation
16 FINAL

Recomended or Required Reading

Compulsory Sources:
Selected visual narratives
Bordwell, David, Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. Boston, McGraw Hill, 2008.
Belton John. American Cinema/American Culture. New York : McGraw-Hill, 2013.

Recommended Sources:
Burkhead, Cynthia. Dreams in American Television Narratives: From Dallas to Buffy. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
Geraghty, Lincoln. American Science Fiction: Film and Television. New York: Berg, 2009.
Hammond, Michael, Lucy Mazdon. The Contemporary Television Series. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005.
Lewis, John. American Film: A History. New York: W.W. Norton and Company,2019
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994.
Vaagei Margrethe Bruun. The Antihero in American Television. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

Lectures, text analysis, class discussions, visual presentations

Assessment Methods

SORTING NUMBER SHORT CODE LONG CODE FORMULA
1 MTE 1 MIDTERM EXAM 1
2 FIN FINAL EXAM
3 FCGR FINAL COURSE GRADE (RESIT) MTE 1 * 0.50 + FIN * 0.50
4 RST RESIT
5 FCGR FINAL COURSE GRADE (RESIT) MTE 1 * 0.50 + RST * 0.50


Further Notes About Assessment Methods

None

Assessment Criteria

Students are expected to
1. have critical perspectives on the major issues discussed in the lectures
2. think analytically
3. refer to the primary texts in order to support their arguments.

Language of Instruction

English

Course Policies and Rules

Students are expected to
1. attend 70% of the course schedule.
2. participate to in-class discussions
3. come to the classes having read the assigned text.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

evrim.ersoz@deu.edu.tr

Office Hours

To be announced

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Activities Number Time (hours) Total Work Load (hours)
Lectures 14 3 42
Preparations before/after weekly lectures 14 4 56
Preparation for midterm exam 1 14 14
Preparation for final exam 1 14 14
Final 1 3 3
Midterm 1 3 3
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours) 132

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

PO/LOPO.1PO.2PO.3PO.4PO.5PO.6PO.7PO.8PO.9PO.10PO.11PO.12PO.13PO.14
LO.155
LO.2555
LO.355
LO.4555
LO.555555

CONTACT INFORMATION
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Phone: +90(232) 412 12 12 - Fax: +90 (232) 464 81 35

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