AustLit

Film and television are a major part of our daily lives and both project and help to shape people's understanding of the world and the way society and culture work. All too often fictional film and television are simply dismissed as 'entertainment', thereby minimising the very real impact that these cultural forms have in expressing and shaping the way people think and act in the world at an everyday level. There is, in particular, a need for teachers to engage with this area, given that much of the cultural consumption of their students outside of school involves film and television. This unit analyses and explores the way contemporary thought about society and culture emerges in fictional film and television. Although this unit can be studied as an independent unit, it is also designed to complement other units which focus on film and media and on media literacy and education.

Aim

This unit aims to equip students with an understanding of key concepts in socio-cultural theory and to increase their knowledge of the corpus of fictional film and television narrative. It also aims to provide students with the tools to critically analyse the way in which fictional film and television as cultural products, both perpetuate and help to shape ways of thinking and acting in the social and physical world and in institutions such as schools