Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2024-2025

Module VISU3182: Special Subject: Screening Masculinities (40 credits)

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (Visual)

VISU3182: Special Subject: Screening Masculinities (40 credits)

Type Open Level 3 Credits 40 Availability Available in 2024/2025 Module Cap 15 Location Durham

Prerequisites

  • VISU1021 and VISU2021

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • VISU3171

Aims

  • To develop the students' research skills
  • To develop the students' ability to analyse and criticise filmic texts
  • To consolidate and refine the theoretical concepts learned by students in previous years, especially within the fields of Film, Gender, Sexuality and Race Studies.
  • To expand the students' knowledge of national and transnational cinemas, stars, filmmakers and gender cultures and theories.

Content

  • This course focuses on 8 case studies covering a wide range of genres, periods and (trans)national cinemas with specific emphasis on iconic masculine figures,
  • Students will become familiar with key aspects of Film Studies including close analysis, star studies, genre, characterisation and performance or spectatorship as well as key concepts of gender theory and men’s studies, including hegemonic masculinities, crisis of masculinities, queer masculinities, male film stars, or the male body as spectacle.
  • Topics for discussion will include issues such as ageing, body building, body image, disabilities, heroes and antiheroes, race and ethnicity, (stereo)typical men, queer, gender queer, trans, metrosexual or non-binary characters.
  • Typical case studies explored will include examples of contemporary African Westerns, Bollywood classics, British period dramas, comic superhero adaptation sagas, Hollywood Biblical Epics, musicals or melodramas, Italian peplum films, French noir, Netflix crime docuseries, queer cinema, or Spanish postmodern comedies or horror films. These materials will be contextualised with examples of advertising campaigns and fashion shoots, artworks including paintings, performances, photography and video art pieces, comic books, comic skits, newspaper cuttings, music videos and live performances, podcasts, screenplays, social media posts, theatre, underground fanzines, or YouTube videos among other forms of media.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • By the end of this module, students will be expected to:
  • critically assess the moving image with sensitivity for issues such as genre, period, national and transnational industry contexts
  • critically understand the construction and deconstruction of masculinities in mainstream and independent cinemas from around the world,
  • manage with confidence classic and cutting-edge concepts and terminology in the fields of Film, Gender, Genre, Nation, Race, Representation, Sex and Sexualities.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • By the end of this module, students will be expected to:
  • think critically about the ways in which films represent gender and men in particular – and how those depictions of men and masculinities may impact perceptions of gender in different societies and periods,
  • think critically about diverse forms of identity (gender, national, racial, sexual),
  • critically analyse films (including technical aspects of filmmaking and subject-specific terminology),
  • think critically about academic and journalistic texts read in the module and beyond,
  • write about film with clarity and sophistication, using subject-specific language and academic writing style.
Key Skills:
  • By the end of this module, students should:
  • develop research skills and independent study skills,
  • develop excellent analytical skills (including visual texts and especially moving image),
  • develop writing skills appropriate to finalist level,
  • develop presentation skills,
  • enhance time management, IT, organisational, leadership and team-work skills (all essential for the presentation).

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • The module will be taught in terms 1 and 2.
  • Weekly 2-hour seminars will typically start with a brief (15-min) talk by the lecturer introducing key theoretical concepts and skills to manage during the session, followed by group discussion of a set weekly reading and/or film.
  • Each case study (up to 4 in total per term) will usually be studied over a 2-week period. The first week will focus on the reading and the second week on the film.
  • The last two weeks of each term will be devoted to small-group work that will allow students to formulate research questions and plans for their projects and to receive informal feedback from their peers and tutors or ask questions about any aspects of the content studied during that term in the module.
  • The assessment will consist of a film commentary due at by the end of term 1, a project work-in-progress presentation including a short summary due by the end of term 2, and a longer research project due in term 3.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Seminars 20 weekly 2 hours 40
Student preparation & reading time 360 (40 Credits)
Total SLAT hours (20 credits 200, 40 credits 400) 400 (40 Credits)

Summative Assessment

Component: Film Commentary Component Weighting: 30%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
Film Commentary (Take-away paper) 2000 words 100% No
Component: Presentation and Summary Component Weighting: 20%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
In-class individual project presentation 10 mins 100% No
Presentation summary 1000 words 100% No
Component: Research Essay Component Weighting: 50%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
Research Essay 5000 words 100% No

Formative Assessment:

Seminar participation. Attendance and participation will be monitored. Quality of participation in the last two weeks of each term (group work) will be closely monitored. Informal oral feedback will be provided in those sessions.


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University