Media and English Literature BA(Hons)

Media and English Literature BA(Hons) at the University of Brighton combines the study of the Media and of English Literature. In both subject areas we focus on developing your critical skills in reading both media and literary texts whilst also giving you the opportunity to develop your expressive skills through media production and different writing genre.

The lecturers have a strong commitment to teaching excellence - four members of our team have won Teaching Excellence awards in recent years – and have an equally strong record in research and publications.

In both Media and English Literature we have a commitment to the study of texts in contexts by an attention to the debates and theories that all contemporary students of media and literature should engage with. You are encouraged to develop a sense of yourself as an autonomous critical and analytical reader and writer in a diverse range of media and literary forms.

You are also encouraged to become actively engaged in producing and practising creative work in a variety of ways. Through community work and a volunteering programme in partnership with local schools, through participation in local events such as the Brighton Documentary Film festival (http://seefestival.org), the student literary journal brightONLINE and subject-related student societies such as the Film Society, the Literature Society and BUDS (Brighton University Drama Society:http://www.brightonunidrama.co.uk).

The Media and English Literature degree is defined through its study of the Media and English Literature in their social, historical, cultural and political contexts. Whether we are considering particular periods of film, a dating game within the reality TV genre or the literature of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean we look for and explore those connections between cultural contexts and the media and literary texts which arise out of those socio-historical moments. In the Media strand, for example, this includes a particularly strong emphasis on cross-cultural analysis of film and popular culture.

We also believe firmly in the strengths of combining theoretical study with opportunities for creative practice. In the media component of your degree for example, you study factual television both by making a magazine style group television production but also by studying genre such as dating or quiz shows in their cultural contexts. In this way, you are able to place your creative work under your own critical gaze. Options in, for example, creative writing, journalism and scriptwriting similarly give you an opportunity to critically reflect on your self-expression in those areas.

A key element of our ethos is to draw upon our practitioner/research areas in our teaching. Recent developments include modules on war photography (‘Images of War’), writings from and about Brighton, (‘Brighton Rocks’) and new media (‘Life Online: Digital Media & Culture’).

Whilst staff research and expertise is vital for your University experience, we pride ourselves on our personal approach to teaching and learning. You will find that tutors are always willing to discuss your work with you and help you become a critically engaged independent learner.

Our media students working in their fully-equipped tv studio at Falmer

Media Studies is a broad subject area and you will find many different approaches to the way it is taught nationally and internationally. With roots in literary and cultural theory and sociology it is an exciting subject area which is continually developing. We believe that in 21st century ‘media societies’ it is an essential subject area and can give us all a deeper understanding of the complexities of how our lives and the media are intimately interconnected.

On the joint degrees in Media at the University of Brighton taught from our Falmer Campus, we place a particular emphasis on the understanding and interpretation of media texts in their social, cultural, historical and political contexts. We teach Media Studies through both theory and practice. We believe that an insight into how the media work and what they do is vitally important in today’s society and that engaging in your own creative media work alongside a critical engagement with the ideas of media scholars is the best way to learn about the complexities of the media.

The core curriculum introduces you to key concepts and ideas in Media Studies across print, film and television. For example we look at key notions in textual analysis, genre theory, narrative and representation and the workings of power in the media. This core element is distinctive because of its particular focus on European and World cinemas and popular culture and the way we weave your critical and creative practice together. Our overall approach is to deepen your understanding of the complex inter-relationships between society, cultures and the media.

Through our wide of options you can opt for more specialist areas within media studies.  For example we offer documentary theory and practice, journalism, digital media, scriptwriting, photography and fiction film production. Because we believe in the importance of seeing how the study of media also relates to language and literature study, regardless of the media joint degree you are studying you can choose options from those subject areas as well.

Media Studies on joint degrees at the University of Brighton offers you the challenge of combining different but related subject areas at a high level of study. It is demanding but worthwhile. You will learn many new skills and learn many new ideas that will not only stand you in good stead for what you do after university, but also challenge you to think about yourself, your society and the media in important and exciting ways.

English Literature at Brighton is characterised by a commitment to the study of texts in contexts, by an attention to the debates and theories that all contemporary students of literature must engage with, and by an emphasis on writing - critical or creative - as practice. Students are encouraged to develop a sense of themselves as autonomous critical and analytical readers and writers in a diverse range of forms from their first year, and to build on their strengths as they negotiate a pathway through the degree.

English Literature offers a distinctive merging of an analytical focus on the differing roles the written word plays across cultures with the opportunities for applying that knowledge and reading through the practice of developing critical and creative work as an integral part of the programme.

Our literature students are encouraged to become actively engaged in producing and practising creative work in a variety of modes through many modules, through community work and a volunteering programme in partnership with local schools, through participation in local events, through the student literary journal brightONLINE and subject-related student societies such as the Literature Society and BUDS (Brighton University Drama Society: http://www.brightonunidrama.co.uk).

We study texts generically (for instance, narrative), within critical disciplines (for instance, sexuality and gender), multi-culturally and historically, within appropriate historical contexts and with an awareness of how older texts speak and have spoken differently over time. We feature earlier literature not because of a belief that old books are good because they’re old, but because we feel students are entitled to explore earlier texts in the light of current preoccupations and, even more so, within their original and urgent historical moments – such as the literature of the ferment that was England in the 1640s and 1650s; or Shakespeare’s highly charged notions of what constituted ‘Venice’ and the ‘other’; or late 19th century texts entangled in the ‘woman question’.

English Literature is arguably the ideal subject to study as part of a joint honours programme since the subject marries a range of key interdisciplinary practices and perspectives. As part of your joint honours degree, the study of English Literature offers unique opportunities to access new approaches to a diverse range of topics. Studying Literature alongside another academic discipline will help you develop a range of skills and foster critical and analytical skills. Illuminating relationships across as well as distinct differences between your subject areas, your joint honours degree will open up interests and connections that complement and enliven your studies here at Brighton.

Course structure

The course combines compulsory elements in both Media and English Literature but also choice in options modules which gives you the opportunity to develop your own specific interests. In this way you can tailor your degree to have an emphasis more on Media or English Literature, or you can give them equal weighting. Each part of your joint degree provides you with a core grounding in theoretical approaches, genres and periods in the first two years, followed by opportunities for pursuing individual research and/or creative interests in the third year.

An important design of the curriculum is to give you more choice in specific subject areas as you proceed through the course. In your first year you study six core modules, three in Media Studies and three in English Literature. In your second year you choose two options besides the four core modules in Media Studies and English Literature. In your third year you study two core modules, one in Media Studies and one in English Literature and two options. You also undertake your major piece of work in a subject or subjects of your choice either as a written dissertation or as a creative project. You might take more practice based modules in for example documentary making or creative writing to shape your degree to have a more creative edge or place a greater emphasis on theoretical/critical approaches to the study of Media and English Literature.

In year 1, you will study the principal concepts and approaches to the study of the Media alongside two modules, one practical and one theoretical in factual television. The practical factual television module takes place in our state-of-the-art TV studio. Your first year also provides you with an essential introduction to the study of English Literature at degree level. The core Literature modules will enable you to engage with a variety of genres and approaches, and to use the critical and theoretical tools appropriate to degree level study.

In year 2, you study the history and theory of film, and the key areas of representation and narrative in Media Studies. The second year also provides an essential grounding in understanding Literature in context, from the sixteenth century to the present. The focus of several year 2 modules is also on enabling independent study and research in preparation for the skills required in your year 3 dissertation or creative project.

In year 3, you study popular culture within a comparative approach looking at a variety of television genre fromacross Europe and beyond. You will also study postcolonial literatures with a focus on writing from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Year 1

Introduction to Media Studies
Analysing Factual Television

TV Studio Production

Literature, Criticism and Theory

Narrative and Narratives

Poetry in Cultural History

Year 2

History and Theory of Film

Media Narratives and Representation

The 19^th century in Literature

Early Modern Literature

Options vary slightly every year, depending on student demand and staff research interests. You choose two options from:

Introduction to Journalism

Modernisms

British Literature and 20th Century History

Creative Writing

Linguistics and Grammar: Concepts and Analyses

Second Language Acquisition

Photography

Signs, Genres and Representation

Life Online: Contemporary Media & Society

Videogames Cultures

American Literature 1850-1960

Studying Travel Writing

Writing and Social Purpose

Spoken and Written Language

Kerpow! Language of Comics

Documentary project

Film Noir

Community and Personal Development Project

UCML – (French, German, Spanish) – NB this module runs over 2 semesters

Year 3

Popular Culture: Europe and Beyond

Postcolonial Literatures

Dissertation or Creative Project

You also choose two options from:

Reading British Narrative Texts

Writing for the Screen

Creative Writing Project

English Language Teaching

Women's Writing, Feminist Theory

Approaches to the Study of Meaning

Film, Culture and Language

French, German, Spanish

Journalism and Media Communication

Literary Adaptations

Performing Gender

Victorian Sexualities

Brighton Rocks

Approaches to the Study of Meaning

Images of War

Children’s Screen Cultures

Screen Comedy

Literature and Film as Philosophy

Community Participation and Development

Graduates with Media degrees move on to follow a wide range of career and life paths – the creative, intellectual and transferable skills gained by any arts and humanities student are key to the rapidly changing demands of work and life in a globalised world. Students from our course at Brighton have gone on to work in television and film production and post-production, publishing, editing, journalism, education, and the public and voluntary sectors.

Many students go on to do postgraduate studies in Film, Cultural and Media Studies or Journalism. Some students also do further training in for example, law, journalism, literary studies, teacher education, and politics and international relations.

Careers advice and training are built into the student experience of your studies at the University of Brighton, with targeted workshops in years 1 and 2 and an annual Employability Event, jointly hosted between Brighton University Careers Service and the Faculty of Arts at Falmer, offering meetings with local and national employers, advice sessions, presentations by ex-graduates, and more formal speaker events. Brighton University alumni are also keen to offer advice and support to current undergraduates.