Final Year, Component 02

How powerful is Hollywood? How do directors construct an image of the USA? Examine how directors have created America in the popular imagination. Study Hollywood auteurs (such as Chaplin, Hawks, Hitchcock, Welles and Ford) alongside others (such as Scorsese, Allen and Lee) while covering the breadth of US film history.

Science fiction has experimented with speculation about other worlds by means of time travels in time and space and other ways of living and being by crossing boundaries of different kinds including species and the human/machine. Some science fiction has imagined oppressive regimes, hierarchical societies characterised by brutality and enslavement. Other science fiction has used the speculative aspects of the genre to create radically new, imagined transformations of body and society brought about by scientific and technological inventions. This diversity of treatment in science fiction makes it a versatile genre which has appealed to feminist, postcolonial and Afrofuturist as much as to conservative approaches. The module focuses on a specific theme--what it means to be human--by exploring the robot, the cyborg and clone as well as the automaton and the vampire. The fears and desires are intense in the treatment of the human/animal/machine and when associated with reproduction and the figure of the alien in the world of the science fiction novel.

How do you write poetry? Be introduced to the practice of writing poetry. Examine seven distinct formal elements of verse alongside the best examples from canonical poetry in the English language. Build your own skills, as well as an appreciation of the history, variety and power of poetry.

Investigate the myths surrounding the founding of the United States. Crossing disciplines of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and cinematic and theatrical texts, you compare the classic Western against a range of counter-narratives from black, Hispanic, latino, and aboriginal storytellers. This module interrogates the concept of a 'national literature', explores the relationship between folklore and contemporary society, and investigates the relationship between the Western as a narrative form, and the history of colonialism in the U.S.A.

This module explores the writing, performance, and activism surrounding the women’s suffrage movement between 1894 and 1928. Students will study speeches, journalism, theatre, pamphlets, and protest writing produced by suffragettes and their opponents. The module examines how creative expression was used as a political tool and considers the cultural, social, and historical impact of these texts and performances.

This module considers the enduring significance of the events known as the Holocaust (or Shoah) as they enter representation and continue to shape our present responses to various forms of racism and violence against the Other. It explores how the Holocaust has been represented, appropriated and reconfigured by writers, poets and filmmakers over the past seven decades. We will examine the connections between history, trauma, and representation through an analysis of Holocaust testimonies, literature, film and visual media. How do novelists, poets, filmmakers and artists depict events that shatter traditional forms of comprehension and representation? How do imagination, memory and history coalesce in works of art? What is the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, and what are the limits of representation? The module looks at numerous examples of Holocaust literature and film, from short story and autobiographical novel, through lyric poetry, drama and graphic novel, to documentary and recent Academy Award-winning productions. We will discuss the issues of testimony and witnessing, the aestheticization and commercialization of trauma and suffering, and the moral, philosophical and cultural legacy of the Holocaust.

This module's primary focus is ecological drama written from the 1950s (the dawn of the nuclear age) to the present day. It will examine a range of dramaturgies employed by key playwrights and theatre makers (including Caryl Churchill's formal experimentation; Katie Mitchell's collaborative work in creating lecture-performances; post-dramatic theatre by writers such as Claire MacDonald; aspects of surrealism in plays by Mike Bartlett, Thomas Eccleshare and Ella Hickson; and naturalism in Steve Waters' The Contingency Plan). It will also examine protest theatre / agitprop and the role it has played in Eco Theatre from 1960s America to Extinction Rebellion's contemporary street performances. While the main focus will be on theatre, we will also look at how ecologically aware drama has manifested itself over the years in film, from the 1980s TV series On the Edge to the more recent Years and Years and Chernobyl. We will also take a revisionist look at some older plays (e.g. Ibsen's An Enemy of the People) as examples of environmentally aware texts that deal with issues of ecological breakdown.

Film festivals have traditionally been global phenomena and played a pivotal role in the film industry ecosystem. In the 21st century, and due to the rise of digital technologies and telecommunications, festivals have become even more important to numerous independent filmmakers who seek routes of distribution (and self-distribution) of their films. The module offers a historical and contemporary examination of the multifaceted role of film festivals in validating, exhibiting and distributing as well as in the process of canonisation of film. While it explores established A-list festivals (such as Cannes, Venice, BFI LFF, Locarno), it also looks at ‘smaller’, niche festivals (such as London Asian Film Festival, and London Migration Film Festival) whose number and impact have increased over the years. Through a dynamic combination of lectures, seminars, presentations, group projects, masterclasses, field trips and the organisation of a one-day film festival at the Colchester campus, the module will equip students with advanced knowledge of the key roles involved in producing film festivals (directors, curators, juries, audiences, filmmakers). Students who are filmmakers will also gain an understanding of the necessary steps that need to be followed before they get their films screened at festivals as well as of the ways they may capitalise on such opportunities to progress their careers within the film industry.

Study some of the ways in which Naturalism evolved and developed and trace its influence upon contemporary playwrights. This module is emphasises practical work and also investigates it theoretically.

Nominated for module of the year, we examine here how theatre practitioners have approached the urgent political crises of the last century. We ask how theatre and human rights interact, and can they intervene in changing hearts and minds. You study a range of plays alongside the ideas of influential practitioners, plus political films and works of art. This module gives you the chance to make your original theatre pieces in response to social issues and world events. This module has been designed to enable students to integrate their subject knowledge with an understanding of sustainable development, acquiring the skills and competencies essential for addressing the urgent sustainability challenges of the 21st century.

Taught by award-winning professional playwrights, this module takes you through the A-Z of writing full-length plays. In this laboratory environment we study the tools and techniques you need to write successfully for the theatre. The module examines the different approaches available to the playwright, and challenges ideas about form, structure and use of language. Studying a range of playscripts in depth, you will develop your skills through practical exercises and assignments. This module gives you the opportunity to enhance your own creative process and progress your professional career.

Taking this module asks you to immerse yourself as an actor in the process of creating a role. We will explore two contrasting plays in depth and detail and look at how actors and directors in a rehearsal room create the shared imaginative world of the play, through research and exploration. We'll build on and extend your understanding of voice, text, script analysis, physicality, and controlling nerves. We'll look at key theoretical writings about acting and performance and explore them through our practice as actors in the rehearsal room, and on stage.

This module offers you the opportunity to focus on a small-scale performance project that will be suitable for studio spaces or audio audiences. Driven by your own interests and strengths, you will form a small company/group with other students to develop, rehearse, and perform a short, 'festival-length' performance of approximately 40 minutes. In addition, your company/group will develop marketing materials, such as an e-flyer and press copy, and will consider some of the practicalities of making small-scale, easily portable work for festivals or touring to small venues.