6 ECTS credits
165 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 1009367BNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.
This course aims to help students to acquire insight into the political dimension of popular media/culture, building on a reflections embedded within the field of social, cultural and political theory. Especially the culturalist and discursive approaches to media studies are used. The course covers the relation between popular media/culture and the field of politics as well as the broader political-ideological dimension of popular media/culture, focusing on categories such as class, ethnicity, gender, nation and war. The course looks at the different dimensions of the relation between politics and popular culture: popular fictional depictions of politics, popular culture as a political stage (how political actors appear on and use the stage of popular culture), and at popular culture as a political practice in itself (celebrity politics, the use of popular culture to political or ideological ends). Through a detailed analysis of a number of films, the political-ideological layers of these film are identified and their political potential and limitations are analysed.
Will be communicated regularly via the e-learning platform Canvas.
Teaching Methods
This description of the teaching methods is indicative, in order to assess the expected study load.
Lecture: 1 hour
Seminar, Exercise or Practicals (Practical): 30 hours
Self: 134 hours
At the end of this course, students will have:
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 75% of the final mark.
Practical Exam determines 25% of the final mark.
Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Within the Practical Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
First session
It is not allowed to use generative AI to generate text used in the film analysis essay.
Active and prepared participation in seminars is taken into account when determining the score for film analysis part. Individual score can differ between members of the same group depending on input in film analysis and active participation in seminars.
Second session
It is not allowed to use generative AI to generate text used in the film analysis essay.
If you need to participate in the second session, but scored minimum 10/20 for one of the two parts of the evaluation, the partial result of the part of the evaluation you scored minimum 10/20 for (the film analysis assignment or the oral exam) is transferred to the second session. If you wish to retake that part you scored minimum 10/20 for in the second session, you need to send an e-mail to bdecleen@vub.be within five days after the publication of the exam results. In case you retake that part in the second session, your first session result is cancelled and the second session result becomes the official result (even if it is lower than the first session result).
If you need to retake the course in the next year, the same rules apply. Partial results from 10/20 (for assignment or oral exam) are transferred to the next academic year. If you want to retake that part, you need to request this before the end of October by mail to bdecleen@vub.be.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Communication Studies: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: - afstudeerrichting sociologie, minor communicatiewetenschappen (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Educational Sciences: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Adult Education: Profile Cultural Studies (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Adult Education: Profile Social Studies (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Criminology: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Educational Sciences: Standaard traject