Programme of Study Catalogue

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Critically reflect on the relationship between the story as entertainment and as commodity.
Analyse the role of creativity in relation to narrative forms, conventions and structures.
Conduct research into the origination, development and delivery of expanded stories.
Communicate ideas and research findings clearly using appropriate presentational techniques and technologies.

Content:

Following from the 1st year module on genre in story, this module explores a range of issues highlighted by expansive storytelling practices. Film and TV serials highlight how stories readily become marketable brands or franchises, exploring the boundary between absorption and commercialisation, or between creativity (fan fiction) and canon (copyright protection). Prequels, sequels, and co-quels test the view that stories have a beginning, middle and end. Sub-creation develops the background 'world', fleshing it out with scholarship and science to enhance credibility and with design and values to assert a visual, or moral, style and tone. Fan fiction moves characters between stories or shows them from un-official perspectives or within alternative genres. Cultural allusion and metanarratives interrupt the simple story flow, re-routing or re-framing it, endlessly. These practices are not new; they are endemic to commercial or pulp fiction, but also to traditional storytelling, mythic cycles, and religious drama.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Seminars will combine tutor input with structured learning activities and discussion based on guided independent study. Materials and resources will be made available via Moodle (the VLE).

Typically, students will be encouraged to create links between a suggested set of traditional 'source' texts and more recent material that draws upon these 'source' texts. The connections between some source texts and modern counterparts will be demonstrated at the start of the module. Central to these demonstrations will be the practice of close analysis and the appropriate application of relevant concepts and theories to the interpretation of the relation between texts. Students will be guided and supported in developing the analysis of the way texts can interrelate and the range of texts to be included in their own study of such connections.

Workshops/Seminars
Hours: 32
Intended Group Size: 5-10

Guided independent study
Hours: 168

Further details relating to assessment
Students may choose to write/present on complex story forms in any genre or medium. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to meet the module learning outcomes either through critical analysis; through writing their own creative stories; or through experiment with traditional forms.

Assessment:

001 Report 2,000 words Mid-Semester 50%
002 Presentation 10 minutes End of Semester 50%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Nathan Uglow
Level - 5
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5S1