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AMS-20061 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2021/22 Last Updated: 16 February 2022

AMS-20061 - Alfred Hitchcock's America
Coordinator: Oliver Cg Harris Room: CBB1.053 Tel: +44 1782 7 33016
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2021/22

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2021/22

Alfred Hitchcock was an historian, critic, and analyst of American culture, as becomes clear by focusing on some of the greatest films he made in Hollywood from the early 1940s until the late 1950s. We will pursue cultural and politicised readings, while also attending in detail to both the production histories of his films, the stars, studios, and collaborators he worked with - and, through close attention to detail, their paramount formal features.
Themes considered include the relation between national security and sexual identity, the complicity of cinema in a surveillance culture, fashion and the politics of gender construction.
Although previous experience of studying film is not a requirement, students will be expected to engage throughout the module in the close observation of formal features in Hitchcock's cinema.

Aims
1. To develop students&© knowledge of Hollywood as an industry and of American culture during the war and postwar years, through the work of a single director;
2. To develop students&© abilities to analyse both formal features of film texts and referential features in relation to American culture and history.

Talis Aspire Reading List
Any reading lists will be provided by the start of the course.
http://lists.lib.keele.ac.uk/modules/ams-20061/lists

Intended Learning Outcomes

apply skills in close textual analysis of film: 1,2
analyse formal features of filmmaking and cinematic themes and relate them to broader cultural and historical issues in American society: 1,2
describe and evaluate key features of American society during the 1940s and '50s: 1,2
apply a critical understanding of the institutional imperatives of Hollywood as a culture industry during the 1940s and 1950s: 1,2

Study hours

150 hours total:
36 hours teaching, comprising: 12 x 2-hour seminars + 4 x 1 hour lectures + 4 x 2 hour workshops (lectures/workshops may be online and/or in person). 114 hours independent study, comprising: 34 hour seminar preparation; 30 hours Short Paper preparation; 50 hours long essay preparation.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Short Paper weighted 30%
1,200 word paper
1,200-word short paper is designed to develop students' abilities to make formal analysis of filmic motifs, combined with a recognition of how such motifs contribute to larger thematic concerns. Requiring a bibliography and accurate presentation, the assessment also prepares students for the major long essay. Students are expected to make good use of still images to support their analysis.

2: Essay weighted 70%
Long essay to enable students to demonstrate the module's main learning outcomes
2,500-word essay, chosen from a range of set titles, that require students to demonstrate skills in both close textual analysis and a broader ability to describe and evaluate both key themes or methods in Hitchcock's cinema and/or larger cultural/historical references.

Please note that for the 2021/22 Academic Year all programmes will be adapted to operate in accordance with a flexible, digital approach. This means that there will be some changes made to how modules are delivered and assessed. The latest information will be provided to you by your School in module handbooks. We endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes and details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/student-terms-and-conditions/

Last Updated: 16 February 2022