American Film and Visual Culture

Module code: HA1224

This module examines the importance of the United States within film history and the importance of narrative cinema and other forms of visual culture within 20th and 21st century America. In focusing on film, we will look at ‘classical Hollywood cinema’ and the studio system as well ‘post-classical’ narratives from mainstream to independent cinema. We will study the norms and variations of film representation and the relationship between the film text and the historical contexts in which films are produced and consumed. The module also looks at American visual culture more generally, in particular assessing the role that television has had in the United States since the middle of the twentieth century.