Please note - Swinburne University of Technology

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especially given the current legislation governing equal
opportunity.
References
Blonski, A. et al. (eds) Don't Shoot Darling: Women's Independent
Filmaking in Australia, Richmond, Greenhouse, 1987
Modleski, T. (ed) Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to
Mass Culture, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1986
Kuhn, A. Women's Pictures: Feminism and Cinema, London,
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982.
Johnson, L. The Unseen Voice: A cultural Study of Early Australian
Radio, London, Routledge, 1988
Kaplan, E.A. Regarding Television: Critical Approaches - an
anthology (Frederick, Md), University Publications of America, 1983
Fair Exposure, Canberra, Australian Government Printing Service,
1983
AMZO~ Making News - The Theory and
Practice of lournalism
No. of hours per week: four hours
Prerequisites: AM1 02 or AM1 03 and any stage
two media studies subject or equivalent
Assessment: continuous
L
r.
3 Subject aims and description
This subject takes both a theoretical and,practical approach
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to the study of the media in ~ustralia. It IS divided into two
areas of study: (i) a theoretical and critical view of the
function and nature of the press in Austral!? (two hours per
week); and (ii) practical lessons in news wrltlng (two hours
W per week).The first area of study offers an historical overview
of the changing role of the press and examines the sociopolitical,
ideological and economic influences which have
8 shaped the modern newspaper industry in Australia.
Newspaper traditions in other countries - such as the United
c. States, the Soviet Union, Europe and South East Asia - will
be compared and different newspapers in Australia will be
examined for their similarities and differences. Key issues
include freedom of the press, the concentration of
newspaper ownership, the power of the press, the structure
of news organisations, ethics, news values, bias, media
accountability, defamation, privacy, and advertising.The
second area of study will focus on practical news writing and
production skills. Students will be encouraged to write and
submit stories for publication in community newspapers.
Students will also iearn basic computer word processing and
desktop publishing skills.
References
Bennett, W.L. News: The Politics of Illusion, 2nd edn, New York,
Longman, 1988
Roscho, B. Newsmaking, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1975
Tiffen, R. The News From South-East Asia: the Sociology of
Newsmaking, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1978
Tiffen, R. News and Powec Sydney, Allen & Unwin. 1989
Evans, H. Editinq and Design: Book I; Newsman's English.
New edn, ond don, ~eineman, 1986
*AMZO~ Cultural Representation in
Australia
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: AM102 orAM103, and AP112 for
students majoring in Australian Studies
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
This subject explores processes of construction and
maintenance of cultural identities in Australia. The first half
of the subject concentrates on the representation of
nationalism in film and television. The enquiry then broadens
to consider representations of cultural difference, marginality
and resistance. Included here is some analysis of cultural
representation from the point of view of Aboriginal people,
women and cultural minorities. Processes of cultural
construction and demarcation are of central significance in
this subject. The major visual texts to be analysed will be
Australian feature films, with some consideration of
Australian television and independent film.
References
Murray, 5. ed., Australian Cinema, St. Leonards, NSW, Allen &
Unwin, 1993
O'Regan, T. Australian Television Culture, St. Leonards. NSW, Allen &
Unwin, 1993
Dermody, S. and Jacka, E. The Screening ofAustralia.
2 volumes, Paddington, Currency Press, 1987
Turner, G. National Fictions: Literature, Film & the Construction of
Australian Narrative. Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1986
* Not available to students who have previously passed
AM204 Media and Australian Society
AM~OO Cinema Studies
No. of hours per week: four hours
Prerequisite: AM1 02 and any two stage two
media studies subjects or equivalent
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
The viewing material for this subject is a selection of films
arranged generically (e.g. the musical, or the horror film, or
the western, or the science-fiction film), thematically (the
romantic drama, or the journey film, or the domestic drama),
or stylistically (the films noirs, or the problems of realism, or
'to cut or not to cut?'). These films will provide study samples
for a pursuit of ideas introduced during the previous two
years of the course into a systematic analysis of film.
The emphasis is upon the practice of film criticism. Attention
is focused upon the usefulness of structuralist and
semiological studies, and their function in relation to the
humanist discourse which dominates more traditional critical
work. In this context, particular questions to do with the
developing study of film will be on the agenda for ongoing
consideration: for example, the ways in which ideology is
inscribed into the works examined (as well as into the
methods of examination), for various systems of
representation, for the usefulness of the work of the 'frameby-frame
heretics', for the kinds of relationships constructed
between a film and its viewer, for the place of 'the author' in
this process in relation to the formal and thematic
organisation of the works which bear hislher name, for the
usefulness of 'genre' studies, for the function of the 'star
system', and for the relationship between the film, the
industry and the culture in which they exist.
References
Bordwell, D. and Thompson, K. Film Art: An Introduction. 4th edn,
New York, McGraw-Hill, 1993
Cook, P. (ed.) The Cinema Book. London, B.F.I., 1985
Grant, B.K. (ed.) Film Genre Reader. Austin, University of Texas Press,
1986
Ray, R.B. A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1980.
Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1985
Schatz, T. Hollywood Genres. New York, Random House, 1981
Wood, R. Hollywood From Vietnam To Reagan. New York, Columbia
University Press, 1986
Cineaction, Cinema Papers, The Journal of Popular Film and
Television, Screen, Wide Angle, Film Comment