University of Essex

LT206-5-FY-CO:
Narrative and Film

The details

Year: 2023/24

Department: Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Full Year

Level: Undergraduate: Level 5

Status: Current

Start date: Thursday 05 October 2023

End date: Friday 28 June 2024

Credits: 30

Last updated: 14 February 2023

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: (none)

Key module (requisite for): (none)

Key module for

(none)

Module description

"How do films tell their stories? What types of narratives and modes of storytelling belong to different genres? How have filmmakers used novels, short stories, poetry, comics, and video games to create new stories for cinema? And how has transmedia storytelling changed our experience of storyworlds?

In the Autumn Term we explore different modes of storytelling in cinema. We consider key films from the canon of classic realist Hollywood, modernist and postmodernist cinema and examine the ways in which different filmic narrative traditions create meaning and transform showing into telling. We also turn our attention to the various genre classification systems that group films according to type. We study the history of individual genres such as Gothic, Film Noir, Science Fiction, and the Road Movie and identify their recurring patterns, styles, and iconographies, and investigate whether and how the Superhero genre promotes new forms of serialized narrative.

In the Spring Term we explore how filmmakers have recycled, updated, and given new life to canonical and popular literatures, and movie originals. We study different types of adaptation, such as free adaptation and intermedial borrowing, and we analyse what is involved in the transposition of stories from one medium into another. We also explore the differences between remakes and reboots, and the differences between adaptations which retell the ""same"" story again (and again) and transmedia storytelling which arguably invents prequels, sequels and spin-offs out of a desire of never wanting a particular story to end, thus satisfying our modern ""novelistic"" taste for seriality.

In this module we draw on a wide range of works from movie classics such Apocalypse Now (1979), based on Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, to the transmedia franchise Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Module content note: some films may include sexual violence.
Please contact the module supervisor if you have any questions.

Module aims

The learning aims of the module are to:
• introduce different formal, aesthetic, and generic modes of storytelling in cinema
• develop an understanding of how narratives are retold, updated and recycled across different genres, art forms, and media
• gain an overview of different types of serial storytelling, including adaptations, remakes, reboots, prequels, sequels, and transmedia
• familiarize students with key concepts in film analysis, genre theory, and adaptation studies

Module learning outcomes

On completing this module students should be able to
• communicate knowledge and understanding of the different formal, aesthetic, and generic modes of storytelling in cinema
• undertake comparative analyses and demonstrate an understanding of the aesthetic relations between verbal and visual media
• demonstrate critical awareness of key issues and concepts pertaining to cross-media adaptations and serial storytelling
• apply, and reflect on, film-, genre-, and adaptation theory

Module information

FILMS

• Alice in the Cities, dir. Wim Wenders (1974)

• Alien, dir. Ridley Scott (1979)

• Apocalypse Now, dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1979)

• Avengers: Endgame, dir. Anthony and Joe Russo (2019)

• Batman Begins, dir. Christopher Nolan (2005)

• Blade Runner 2049, dir. Denis Villeneuve (2017)

• Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, dir. Rouben Mamoulian (1931)

• Hugo, dir. Martin Scorsese (2007)

• Masculin Féminin, dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1966)

• Nosferatu, dir. F. W. Murnau (1922)

• Rear Window, dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1954)

• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman (2018)

• Strange Days, dir. Kathryn Bigelow (1995)

• Timecode, dir. Mike Figgis (2000)

• The Big Sleep, dir. Howard Hawks (1946)

• The Fly, dir. David Cronenberg (1986)

Learning and teaching methods

Anticipated teaching delivery: Weekly 2-hour lectorial

Bibliography

Hitchcock, A. (1954) ‘Rear Window.’ London: Universal Pictures (UK) Limited. Available at: https://essexuk.kanopy.com/node/51173.
Mulvey, L. (1975) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, Screen, 16(3), pp. 6–18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/16.3.6.
Mulvey, L. (2009) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, in Feminisms redux: an anthology of literary theory and criticism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp. 432–442. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/reader.action?docID=3032152&ppg=454.
Kuhn, A. (2007) ‘Classic Hollywood Narrative’, in The Cinema Book. 3rd ed. London: BFI, pp. 39–40. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781838710484.0009.
R. Barton Palmer (1986) ‘The Metafictional Hitchcock: The Experience of Viewing and the Viewing of Experience in “Rear Window” and “Psycho”’, Cinema Journal, 25(2), pp. 4–19. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1225456?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
Godard, J.L. (1966) ‘Masculin Féminin.’ Available at: https://panopto.essex.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=e49dd686-0065-4deb-8a85-ac5300927f81.
‘Masculin féminin | Kanopy’ (no date). Available at: https://www.kanopy.com/en/essexuk/video/11814121.
Wollen, P. (1976) ‘Godard and Counter-Cinema: Vent d’est’, in Movies and methods: an anthology. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 500–508.
Gledhill, C. (1973) ‘Notes for a Summer School: Godard, Criticism and Education’, Screen, 14(3), pp. 67–74. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/screen/article/14/3/67/1624852?login=true.
Figgis, M. (2000) ‘Timecode.’ Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F0016029D%3Fbcast%3D46366842.
Fabe, M. (2004) ‘Digital Video and New Forms of Narrative in Mike Figgis’s Timecode.’ Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1525/j.ctt7zw19h.18.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A04b001edd3b0958c1b4ac2e35eb4dabc.
Friedberg, A. (2009) The virtual window: from Alberti to Microsoft. Cambridge: MIT.
Bigelow, K. (1995) ‘Strange Days.’ [S.l.]: Universal. Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2F004C7180%3Fbcast%3D3599358.
‘Steel in the gaze: on POV and the discourse of vision in Kathryn Bigelow’s cinema - Laura Rascaroli’ (no date). Available at: https://academic.oup.com/screen/article/38/3/232/1639837.
‘Strange Days and the Subject of Mobility - Brian Carr’ (2002) Camera Obscura, 17(2), pp. 190–217. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/camera_obscura/v017/17.2carr.html.
Mamoulian, R. (1931) ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.’ Available at: https://login.learningonscreen.ac.uk/wayfless.php?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp0.essex.ac.uk%2Fshibboleth&target=https%3A%2F%2Flearningonscreen.ac.uk%2Fondemand%2Findex.php%2Fprog%2FRT48EDD4%3Fbcast%3D120522277.
Botting, F. (2013) Gothic. 2nd edition. Abingdon: Routledge. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=652631.
Thomas, E.A. (no date) ‘“Camera Grammar: First-Person Point of View and the Divided ”I’ in Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2015.1052618.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam	Description	Coursework weighting
Coursework	Essay 1 (2,500 words)	47.5%
Coursework	Essay 2 (2,500 words)	47.5%
Practical	Participation mark	5%

Exam format definitions

Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Prof Karin Littau, email: klittau@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff: Professor Karin Littau

Contact details: LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk. Telephone 01206 872626

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: Yes

Available to Outside Option: No

Available to Audit: No

External examiner

Name: Dr Andrew Birtwistle

Institution: Canterbury Christ Church University

Academic role: Reader in Film and Sound

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording: Of 55 hours, 53 (96.4%) hours available to students:
2 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

Further information

Department website: Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

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Module Directory

LT206-5-FY-CO:Narrative and Film