Objectives
The distinctive MA in Hollywood Studies, new for 2008-09, is the first Masters degree in the UK to focus specifically on Hollywood as one of the dominant world producers of film, television and screen media. Considering how exactly Hollywood operates as an industry and creative system, the MA examines the role of Hollywood in history and everyday life, posing two essential questions: ‘what is Hollywood?’ and ‘where is Hollywood?’ The MA locates film, television, and other screen media within the institutional, economic and cultural frameworks of global Hollywood. The course, the only one of its kind in Britain, instructs students in academic and industrial discourses in film and television studies, with a particular emphasis on globally dominant Hollywood institutions and their local situation in North America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Due to our strong links with local media organisations EM Media (the regional screen development agency) and the Broadway Cinema and Media Centre (the regional film theatre), this is an academic degree that enables you to engage with the practical aspects of the media. Located within the School of American and Canadian Studies, which achieved a 5* rating in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, the Institute is committed to postgraduate education. The MA Hollywood Studies course can be taken full-time (1 year) or part-time (2 years). The Institute has a thriving research culture, supported by an active programme of research seminars, guest lectures and symposia organized by staff and students. The Institute also runs Scope: an Online Journal of Film and Television Studies, a fully refereed journal with an international advisory board produced by research students under staff direction. Staff in the Institute research and teach on a range of specialty subjects, including US film and television, East Asian cinema (China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan), film sound, the cultural industries, new media, gender and the media, branding, performance, media reception, and film and television historiography.
Course description
Key facts
-The MA in Hollywood Studies is taught by the Institute of Film and Television Studies, which is located within the School of American and Canadian Studies.
-The Institute of Film and Television has expanded rapidly in recent years and is now one of the largest such programmes in the UK.
-Institute staff research areas are among the profession’s most innovative, including US film and television, East Asian and global cinema, new media, industrial and audience analysis, and film and television history.
-The School of American and Canadian Studies received an excellent 5* rating in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise and a rating of excellent (5) in similar exercises in 1992 and 1996.
-The Institute has a thriving research culture, with current students focusing on topics as diverse as transnational appropriation of Hollywood cinema, Hindi film censorship, queer television in the UK, US video games and military strategy, star performance in contemporary US film, and UK regional news and feature-film production.
Course Content
Rather than simply focusing on the textual reading of films, this exciting course will encourage students to analyse the social and cultural practices within which film texts are produced, circulated and consumed.
You will study three core modules:
-Hollywood at Home and Abroad
-Reasearching Hollywood Culture
-Research Management and Personal Development Skills
-In addition to the core modules, two optional modules in film and television studies are chosen by students, allowing them to further develop specialist knowledge of fields or issues that are of particular concern to them. Sample optional modules include Filmmakers and Filmmaking, The Blockbuster, Media Memories, Film and Television Genres, and Researching Screen Audiences. Students will also be be required to complete a dissertation of 15,000-20,000 words (unless you decide to study to Postgraduate Diploma level).
Please note that optional module are subject to change.
Course Structure
The MA in Hollywood Studies can be completed during one year of full-time study or over two years part-time.
Students also have the option to study the subject for the award of a Postgraduate Diploma, for which students undertake the taught components of the course without completing the dissertation module.
Principal means of assessment include research essays and projects interrogating production practice. The degree’s key component is a research dissertation of 15,000-20.000 words.
Modules
Hollywood at Home and Abroad
This module aims to extend student awareness of the status and development of Hollywood in different historical contexts and periods, considering the place and role of Hollywood in everyday life, both in the United States and in other regions of the world.
Researching Hollywood Culture
This module uses a case study approach to examine key theoretical approaches to Hollywood culture, focusing on debates about the relation between industry, text, aesthetics and audiences.
Research Management and Personal Development Skills
This module is planned as part of the Masters programmes and is specifically designed for students intending to pursue postgraduate research. It incorporates the AHRC requirements and guidelines for increasing the capability of MA students in general research and generic transferable skills. Students will take 7 credits of the following core compulsory sessions in the Graduate School Training Programme: Introduction to Library Skills; Building a Bibliography; and Presentation Skills for Postgraduates in the Humanities. The remaining three credits will consist of a Writing the Dissertation workshop delivered by School of American and Canadian Studies staff.
Dissertation: Film Studies
The dissertation should be on an area chosen by the student in consultation with a supervisor.
