Course syllabus

Course description

This is a course where you get to watch and listen to and analyse how popular music and musicians are present in movies, TV shows, music videos and social media.

There's no exam, just two open-book quizzes (30 pts), one freer piece of writing (30 pts), one longer more traditional research essay (30 pts) and tutorial discussion/participation (10 points). You get to write about relevant topics from anywhere in the world in which you're interested. The lectures include loads of clips from today's popular music on screen as well as some influential texts from the past.

We explore the relationships between popular music and visual media, including film, television and social media. We analyse audiovisual technologies and their textual forms e.g. music documentaries, biopics, television shows, music videos and social media. We consider the production, circulation and social effects of these screen media, and how they are embedded in debates about popular culture and power relations, particularly those marked by race, class, gender and sexuality. We consider the sounds, looks and emotions associated with music styles and cultures. We focus on musicians, fans, songs, genres and dance on screen. The course engages with a range of theories, methods and approaches in media studies and communication, film and television studies, popular music studies and sound studies.