Media, Culture, and Society

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course will provide students with an understanding of our contemporary media environment, with attention to both Irish and international examples. Students will learn about the operation of the media industries, and will gain the ability to critically assess both media texts and the structures that shape them. In the first section of the module students will explore the structure of the mass media, and the social context within which they operate. In the second part, students will acquire skills in critically assessing media and film texts - including in terms of gender, sport and race - and the structures that shape them. Core readings for the module will be available online through the library reading list service and on Blackboard. The materials studied in the module include a number of cinematic works, which will be made available to students in the James Hardiman Library DVD collection or through links to relevant online sources. These will include The Wire, Season 1, Episode 1, Invincible (Ericson Core, 2006), Clash of the Ash (1987), Do the Right Thing (1989) amongst others. Lectures on this material will be predicated on students being familiar with the work discussed.