| Unit name | Modernism and the Movies |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL30128 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Cleo Hanaway-Oakley |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
N/A |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
Modernist texts are deemed unfilmable, yet filmmakers keep adapting them. Modernist writers decry the movies, but they write in a cinematic style
An ‘orgy of abstraction’ – this is how D. H. Lawrence disapprovingly described film-watching. Virginia Woolf was a little more forgiving; she recognised cinema’s potential: ‘some residue of visual emotion which is of no use either to painter or to poet may still await the cinema’. Other modernist authors became involved in the film business: Samuel Beckett wrote a film called Film (which is about film), Dorothy Richardson and H. D. were film critics, and James Joyce ran a cinema. There are now several film-versions of Joyce’s ‘unfilmable’ Ulysses: according to Joseph Strick, director of the 1967 adaptation, Joyce’s novel is ‘written like a movie’ – ‘it’s a screenplay’.
This unit interrogates literary ‘modernism’ and ‘movies’ and unpicks the knotty interrelationships between the two media.
How does this unit fit in to your programme of study?
Specialisation units challenge and empower you to engage with specific elements of advanced literary study. Specialisation units include taught options, which are closely informed by the world-leading research of individual academic staff, as well as final-year dissertation units that will enable you to pursue your own research or creative interests. Specialisation units cultivate ambition and independent learning, and showcase the department’s wide-ranging and varied expertise.
An Overview of Content
This unit will explore the relationship between modernist literature and different forms of film from a variety of angles. It will consider: involvement (the ways in which modern writers partook in the business and criticism of film); impact (the ways in which early film influenced, or had parallels with, modernist literature); and adaptation (the ways in which film-makers have appropriated, or been consciously influenced by, modernist literature). We’ll read a range of texts (novels, short stories, poems, and essays) from the 1880s to the present and watch a variety of films (pre-cinematic still and moving images, silent slapstick, early documentaries, ‘trick films’, feature films from the 1960s and 1990s, and experimental shorts).
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
On completion of the unit, students will have increased knowledge and understanding of literary modernism and its relationship with a range of film forms. As well as learning basic film analysis skills, students will further develop key literary skills (comparative analysis/contextual analysis/interdisciplinarity) in ways that not only connect to the content of this unit, but will present a meaningful consolidation as they complete their programme.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Teaching will involve asynchronous and synchronous elements, including group discussion, research and writing activities, and peer dialogue. Students are expected to engage with the reading and participate fully with the weekly tasks and topics. Learning will be further supported through the opportunity for individual consultation.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Students will be given the opportunity to submit an outline of your final summative essay, and receive formative feedback.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative)
Essay, 3,500 words (100%) [ILOs 1-3]
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School/Centre shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ENGL30128).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
