Women and Hollywood

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Organise and structure materials and knowledge to write clearly and confidently.
• Analyse and synthesize primary and secondary research materials.
• Analyse and critique other media, both print and audiovisual, in relation to a primary text's reception.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Key women filmmakers and stars of Hollywood and key Hollywood films that have been popular amongst female audiences.
• Key approaches to reception studies
• The genres most associated with female audiences: romantic comedies, the woman’s film, melodrama.
• Selected feminist film theories and feminist film histories of Hollywood.
• The latest research on women’s production and representation in Hollywood and contemporary theories of women’s popular cinema.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Articulate, evaluate and apply feminist film theories of authorship, genre and representation.
• Evaluate critically the theoretical and methodological approaches to spectatorship and reception studies
• List key women filmmakers, female stars of Hollywood and discuss the significance of their films.
• Differentiate amongst and compare representations of women in Hollywood cinema and alternative (independent/art) cinemas.
• Synthesize an analysis of a women’s film with the historical and cultural context.

Teaching methods include:

• A weekly screening of films
• A weekly lecture
• A weekly seminar
• Lecturer-led analysis and discussion of sources

Learning activities include:

• Preparatory reading before each seminar
• Participation in group and class discussion
• Independent reading of the sources provided and of related secondary works
• Independent research of additional information and source materials
• Short group presentation
• Field trip to local cinema to see a recently released women’s film or film by a female director. Participation on this trip is not a formal requirement of the module, though you are strongly encouraged to attend.

Lecture elements will provide you with general knowledge and understanding about chronology, sources and key concepts. This will be consolidated through readings and seminar discussions of primary and secondary source material. Discussion in seminars will help you to develop your own ideas about a topic, to analyse a range of source material and to articulate a critical argument

Teaching methods include

• workshops that combine tutor input with practical writing exercises
• small group interaction, to generate constructive feedback from peers
• lectures and workshops led by industry professionals.

Learning activities include

• generating material and ideas for a specific piece of writing
• planning and implementing a strategy for completing a professional piece of work
• peer review and feedback
• editing and revising pieces of writing (and production, eg a promo tape or a website).

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.