Introductory description

n/a

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Indicative Screenings: Daredevils of the Red Circle (John English, William Witney, 1939); Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931) and Dracula's Daughter (Lambert Hillyer, 1936); Four Daughters (Michael Curtiz, 1938) and Four Wives (Michael Curtiz, 1939); The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012) and Avengers: Endgame (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, 2019); Three Colours trilogy (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993-1994); The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg, 2019) and The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg, 2021); Koi … Mil Gaya (Rakesh Roshan, 2003) and Krrish (Rakesh Roshan, 2006); King Kong vs. Godzilla (Ishirō Honda, 1963) and Godzilla vs. Kong (Adam Wingard, 2021); Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) and Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015); Kung Fu Panda (John Stevenson, Mark Osborne, 2008) and Kung Fu Panda 3 (Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Alessandro Carloni, 2016); Ghostbusters (Paul Feig, 2016) and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Jason Reitman, 2021)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Identify and compare different modes of film seriality and franchising, situating these historically, industrially and culturally.
• Mobilise a range of critical concepts and methodologies in the analysis of serialised and franchise cinema.
• Offer critical, evaluative textual analyses of serialised and franchise films that is attentive to the ways in which different kinds of intertextuality shape meaning both within individual films in a series/franchise and across the series/franchise.
• Formulate nuanced arguments pertaining to the ways in which particular film series/franchises change over time, across national borders and through intercultural exchanges.
• Articulate their understanding of the above with clarity in writing and orally.

Indicative reading list

Forrest, Jennifer and Leonard R. Koos (ed.), Dead Ringers: The Remake in Theory and Practice (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002).
Henderson, Stuart, The Hollywood Sequel: History & Form, 1911-2010 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
Herbert, Daniel and Constantine Verevis (ed.), Film Reboots (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020).
Jenkins, Henry, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: University Press, 2006).
Jess-Cooke, Carolyn, Film Sequels: Theory and Practice from Hollywood to Bollywood (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009).
Jess-Cooke, Carolyn, and Constantine Verevis (ed.), Second Takes: Critical Approaches to the Film Sequel (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010).
Johnson, Derek, Media Franchising: Creative License and Collaboration in the Culture Industries (New York: New York University Press, 2013).
Higgins, Scott, Matinee Melodrama: Playing with Formula in the Sound Serial (New Brunswick: Rutgers, 2016).
Herbert, Daniel, Film Remakes and Franchises (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2017).
Horton, Andrew and Stuart Y. McDougal (ed.), Play it Again Sam: Retakes on Remakes (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).
Klein, Amanda Ann, and R. Barton Palmer, Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots: Multiplicities in Film and Television (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016).
Smith, Iain Robert, and Constantine Verevis (ed.), Transnational Film Remakes (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017).
Stedman, Raymond William, The Serials: Suspense and Drama By Installment (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971).
Thompson, Kristin, The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).
Verevis, Constantine, Film Remakes (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006).
Wolf, Mark J. P, Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation (New York: Routledge, 2012).

Subject specific skills

This module develops skills of audio-visual literacy, through close textual and/or contextual analysis in relation to the
moving image and sound. It also develops understandings of historical, theoretical and conceptual frameworks
relevant to screen arts and cultures

Transferable skills

• critical and analytical thinking in relation
• independent research skills
• team work
• clarity and effectiveness of communication, oral and written
• accurate, concise and persuasive writing
• audio-visual literacy