This course material © 1994 Jeremy Butler. It may be reproduced for non-profit, educational uses, but publication in any profit-making form or in any book or magazine form must first be cleared with the author.
Jeremy Butler (jeremy@tcf.ua.edu), Telecommunication and Film Department, P.O. Box 870152, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487.
Spring 1994
Instructor: Jeremy Butler Office: 430C Phifer Hall
E-mail: jbutler@bamanet.ua.edu
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
"Telecommunication aesthetics" is a rather misleading name for
this course. Telecommunication covers--among other things--
radio, television, satellite communication, and even telephony,
but we will solely be dealing with television here (and mostly
with broadcast television rather than cable). And aesthetics is
usually defined as the study of the beautiful and the judgment of
the beautiful; it seeks to define good and bad art. It will not
be our objective to define good and bad television. TV is just
TV.
The objective of this course is to introduce the student to
television critical studies, or what is commonly called, within
academics, television criticism (a parallel with literary
criticism). We will, first of all, seek to understand television
as a unique meaning-producing medium--dissecting television's
narrative and non-narrative structures and its uses of mise-en-
scene, cinematography/videography, editing, and sound. Second,
we will confront the critical methods that have been applied to
the medium over the past 20 years: semiotics, genre study,
ideological criticism, cultural studies, and so on.
Our goal is to become more intelligent, alert, critical viewers
of television.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
The student's grade will depend upon two separate
components:
1) Three critical analyses of TV programs, based on the
principles presented in Television: Critical Methods and
Applications. Worth 25 points each.
Each student will choose his/her programs, but Analysis One
must be on a fictional drama (soap opera, police show, etc.),
Analysis Two must be on a nonfiction aspect of TV (sports
program, commercial, news program, etc.), and Analysis Three must
be on a fictional comedy show (a sitcom, probably).
Analysis One is due 17 February and will be discussed in
class. Each student must bring a videocassette of the TV program
he/she analyzed to class. Analysis Two is due 21 March and
Analysis Three is due 22 April.
These analyses must be typed and will be graded based on
conceptual rigor and fluency of writing style. Any use of
outside sources must be properly cited. A bibliography and the
credits for the program analyzed must be provided.
2) An open book, open note final exam--worth 25 points.
It will cover Channels of Discourse, plus chapters 9, 10, and 11
in Television. The final exam period is Tuesday, 3 May, 2-4:30
p.m.
Please note: This is a seminar class which depends heavily
upon students having done the readings and being prepared to
discuss them in class. If the majority of the class fails to do
a reading assignment then an in-class essay may be assigned and
factored into the grading as part of the final exam score.
COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to changes announced in class)
Date Topic Readings
1/11 Introduction to the Course
1/13 TV Structure, Narrative Structure Butler, chs. 1, 2
1/18 Characters, Actors, Stars Butler, ch. 3
1/20 Beyond and Beside Narrative Butler, ch. 4
1/25 Mise-en-Scene Butler, ch. 5
1/27 Cinematography/Videography Butler, ch. 6
2/1 Editing Butler, ch. 7
2/3 Sound Butler, ch. 8
2/8 A History of TV Style Butler, ch. 9
2/10 Special Topics I: Music Television Butler, ch. 10
2/15 Special Topics II: Animation Butler, ch. 11
2/17 **Analysis One Due in Class** Butler, ch. 13
2/22 Critical Methods: An Overview Butler, ch. 12
Allen, Introduction
2/24, 3/1 Semiotics Allen, ch. 1
3/3 Narrative Theory Allen, ch. 2
3/8 Audience-Oriented Criticism Allen, ch. 3
3/10, 15 Genre Study Allen, ch. 4
3/17, 22 Ideological Criticism Allen, ch. 5
3/21 **Analysis Two Due: 4:45 p.m., TCF Office**
3/24 Psychoanalytic Criticism Allen, ch. 6
3/26-4/3 SPRING BREAK
4/5 Psychoanalytic Criticism, Cont.
4/7, 12 Feminist Criticism Allen, ch. 7
4/14, 19 Cultural Studies, Ethnography Allen, ch. 8
4/21, 26 Postmodernism Allen, ch. 9
4/22 **Analysis Three Due: 4:45 p.m., TCF Office**
4/28 Course Summary
5/3 **Final Exam: Tuesday, 2-4:30 p.m.**
READING LIST:
Available at Local Bookstores:
Robert C. Allen, Channels of Discourse, Reassembled, second
edition (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1992).
Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Critical Methods and
Applications(Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1994).
(NOTE: The above citations follow the guidelines for footnotes
specified in Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers. Citations
in a bibliography use a slightly different format.)
Jeremy Butler, jbutler@bamanet.ua.edu