2018-2019 Term 1 Tuesdays 2:30pm-5:15pm Location: CURE2040 Television Studies Instructor: Prof. TAN Jia 譚佳 Office: Room 305, Leung Kau Kui Building Email: jiatan@cuhk.edu.hk Course Description This course aims to introduce the major studies of television understood as a set of institutions, technologies and texts shaped by historical, cultural, political and economic forces. This course examines television s historical evolution; its relationship to other media; its preferred genres; its models of televisual spectatorship and consumption; its politics of representation in regard to class, race, gender, and sexuality; and its economic modes of operation. Upon completion of this subject, students are expected to understand the content and form of television as well as its industrial, social, cultural, and technological ramifications. Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs) CILO CILO 1 CILO 2 CILO 3 CILO 4 By the end of the course, students should be able to: Identify and analyze important concepts in television studies Analyze and interpret television as a form of creative expression with regard to its multiple genres, means of delivery, and formal methods Evaluate relevant aspects of television that not only reflect on society but also shape values and meanings Articulate their understanding of television as a complex medium with industrial, social, cultural, and technological ramifications. Teaching & Learning Activities (TLAs) CILO No. CILO 1-4 CILO 1-4 CILO 1, 4 CILO 1-4 TLAs Reading assignments: this will provide students with information and concepts in television studies. Lectures and discussion: lectures will be given to bring up important issues and concepts for discussion and further studies. Class presentation: Each student will choose or be assigned a topic from the syllabus to engage class readings with TV programs selected by the student. This will enable the student to conduct in-depth exploration on a particular subject. TV screenings and discussion: this will expose students to various aspects of television. Page 1 of 7
Assessment Methods (AMs) Type of Assessment Participation and Presentation Weighting 5% +15% (presentatio n written component) CILOs to be Description of Assessment Tasks address ed 1, 4 Based on the students attendance, participation in class discussions, and the performance in the presentation. Student presentation is graded in relation to its relevance to weekly reading and class content, critical analysis skills, and presentation skills. Reading response Final Term Project 20% 1-4 The student is required to respond to two readings from course material. The response should not only summarize the key points but also speak to contemporary relevance of the piece. 10% (proposal) +50% 1-4 The final project is designed to apply key concepts learned throughout the semester to a particular topic on television. Assessment 1. Participation and Presentation 5%+15% Participation includes class discussion and a presentation combines key terms in weekly readings with specific TV examples. This presentation will need to address weekly readings as well as its contemporary relevance. The presentation will also be graded for its class engagement. 2. Reading response 20% The student is required to respond to two readings from course material in one piece of writing. The response should NOT be a mere repetition of the main points in the readings. Rather, please use the concepts in the readings to comment on phenomenon in your everyday life. You can compare the main points from the readings or use them selectively to reflect on everyday life critically. (English: double-spaced, less than 4 pages, Chinese: less than 1500 words). At least one of the two weekly readings should not be from the week that you choose to do the presentation. DUE DATE 6 November 3. Take Home Final Term Project 10%(proposal) +50% At the end of the course, you will complete a take home final project. Students will also present the proposal for their final projects. It can be an academic paper (English: double-spaced, 7 10 pages, Chinese: 4,000 6,000 words) or a creative project (video, animation, etc.) accompanied by a written statement with academic analysis and references (English: Page 2 of 7
double-spaced, 4 6 pages. Chinese: 2,000 4,000 words) Please note that late submissions will be graded one grade down every 3 days. More specific instructions will be distributed later. FINAL PROJECT IS DUE ON 11 December. Required Readings All readings will either be distributed as class handout or they will be available online in pdf format. Most volumes are also available in the University Library. Please finish weekly readings before coming to class. Weekly Schedule Week 1 4 September Introduction: What is Television (Studies)? reading: 1. Henry Jenkins (2004). The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(1), 33 43. 2.Parks, Lisa. 2009. My Media Studies. Television & New Media 10 (1): 126 29. screening: Black Mirror Week 2 11 September SIGN UP FOR PRESENTATIONS Television as Industry: Public Television, Commercial Television and Advertising reading: 1. Raymond Williams, Advertisings: the Magic System 2. Cynthia Meyers (2009), From Sponsorship to Spots: Advertising and the Development of Electronic Media in Holt and Perren, Media Industries: 69-80. 3. 新婦女協進會傳媒與婦女關注小組, 電視廣告中的性別意識調查報告 (1994) screening: The Persuaders (Frontline, 2004, 90 mins); Killing us softly 4: advertising's image of women (Media Education Foundation production) Week 3 18 September Television as Industry: Program Format, Globalization, and Neoliberalism reading: 1. Television formats in the world/the world of television formats and Copying, cloning and copying: Hong Kong in the global television format business in Albert Moran and Michael Keane. 2004. Television across Asia: Television Industries, Programme Formats and Globalization: 1-8, 74-87 2.Tan, Jia. 2015. Neoliberalized Romantic Encounter: If You Are the One and the Gender Politics of Chinese Reality TV. Router: A Journal of Cultural Studies 20 (Spring): 79 102. ( 新自由主義式的 邂逅 : 非誠勿擾 與電視真人秀的性別政治) 3. Introduction in Lewis, T., Martin, F., & Sun, W. (2016). Telemodernities: Television and Transforming Lives in Asia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (e-book available via CUHK library) 4. 羅永生, 公民社會與虛擬自由主義的解體 : 兼論公民共和的後殖主體性, 思想香港 第一期 ( 二 0 一三年八月 ) screening: the Idol series, 非誠勿擾, 盛男大作戰 Page 3 of 7
25 September 2018 PUBLIC HOLIDAY. NO CLASS. Week 4 2 October Television as Industry: Korean Wave and East Asian Pop Culture reading: 1. selections in East Asian Pop Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave; 2. Michael Curtin, (2009) Thinking Globally: From Media Imperialism to Media Capital in Jennifer Holt and Alisa Perren, eds, Media Industries: History, Theory and Method. Blackwell: 108-119; 3. Deppman H-C (2009) Made in Taiwan: An Analysis of Meteor Garden as an East Asian Idol Drama. In: Zhu Y and Berry C (eds), TV China, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 91 110. screening: Ugly Betty, Boys over Flowers ( 花樣男子 ),Meteor Garden( 流星花園 ) Week 5 9 October Television as Text: Television Elements and Genre readings: 1. Jane Feuer, Genre Study and Television in Channels of Discourse, Reassembled; 2. Jason Mittell (2001), A Cultural Approach to Television Genre Theory, Cinema Journal, 40:3 p3-24. 3. Druick, Zoe. 2009. Dialogic Absurdity: TV News Parody as a Critique of Genre. Television and New Media 10 (3): 294 308. 4. 多重奏 節選 screening: Michael Jackson Music Videos, Friends, the Simpsons, 毛記電視 Week 6 16 October Television as Text: Medium Specificity and TV Flow reading: 1. Jeremy Butler, An Introduction to Television Structures and Systems: Ebb and Flow in the Post network Era 2. Mimi White, Flows and Other Encounters with Television in Planet TV, 94-110. screening: News programs, Mad Man, 冬季戀歌 Week 7 23 October Television as Representation: Race and Class readings: 1. Stuart Hall, The Work of Representation 2. Erni & Leung, South Asian Minorities and Mainstream Media in Understanding South Asian Minorities in Hong Kong. 3. Wood and Skeggs, Reality TV and Class 4. 潘毅, 許怡, 壟斷資本與中國工人 : 以富士康工廠體制為例, 邊城對話 5. 香港貧窮問題 節選 screening: The Cosby Show, Gossip Girl Week 8 30 October Television as Representation: Gender readings: 1. Robert Allen, Making sense of soaps in The Television Studies Reader: 242-257. 2. Richard Dyer, Stereotyping 3. 我城. 我性 : 同志仍須努力 Page 4 of 7
screening: 盛女愛作戰,My 盛 Lady, 非誠勿擾 Week 9 6 November READING RESPONSE DUE Television as Representation: Sexuality readings: 1. Sender, K. (2007). Dualcasting: Bravo's gay programming and the quest for women audiences. In C. Chris & A. Freitas (Eds.), Cable visions: Television beyond broadcasting (pp. 302-318). New York, NY: New York University Press. 2. Gayle S. Rubin, Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality screening: Sex and the City, The L word, Week 10 13 November Television as Representation: Cultural Identity and Media Rituals reading: 1.Lv, X. (2009). Ritual, Television, and State Ideology: Rereading CCTV s 2006 Spring Festival Gala. In Y. Zhu & C. Berry (Eds.), TV China (pp. 111 28). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2. 馬傑偉, 電視與文化認同 3. 從 獅子山下 到 許冠傑金曲 到 始終有你 香港人的歌 與 香港人 有甚麼關係? screening: 網中人 (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, TVB, 1979); 大时代 ;Spring Festival Gala ( 春節聯歡晚會 ) Week 11 20 November Television Audience: Programming and Measurement readings: 1. Perebinossoff, P., Gross, B., & Gross, L. S., Scheduling Strategies for Television. 2. Sender, Katherine. 2015. Reconsidering Reflexivity: Audience Research and Reality Television. Communication Review 18 (1): 37 52. 3. Hall, S. (1980) "Encoding/decoding" in Culture, Media, Language, London: Hutchinson, 1980, 128-138. Week 12 27 November Television Audience: Ethnographic Research and Feminist reception studies reading: 1. Cavalcante, A., Press, A., & Sender, K. (2017). Feminist reception studies in a postaudience age: returning to audiences and everyday life. Feminist Media Studies, 17(1), 1 13. 2. selections in Feng, J. (2013). Romancing the internet: producing and consuming Chinese web romance. Leiden: Brill. Reference: Bielby, D. D., & Harrington, C. L. (2008). Global TV: Exporting television and culture in the world market. New York: New York University Press. Casey, B. (2008). Television studies: The key concepts. London; New York: Routledge. Chua, B. H. (2008). East Asian pop culture: Analysing the Korean wave. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Curtain, M. (2007). Playing to the world s biggest audience: The globalization of Chinese film and TV. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. Page 5 of 7
Erni, J. N. and Leung, L. (2014). Understanding South Asian Minorities in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Gray, J. (2008). Television entertainment. New York: Routledge. Kackman, M., Binfield, M., Payne, M. T., Perlman, A., & Sebok, B. (Eds.). (2011). Flow TV: Television in the age of media convergence. New York: Routledge. Moran, A., & Keane, M. (2004). Television across Asia: Television industries, programme formats and globalization. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon. Vande Berg, L. R., Wenner, L. A., & Gronbeck, B. E. (2004). Critical approaches to television (2 nd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Zhu, Y., Keane, M., & Bai, R. (2008). TV drama in China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Page 6 of 7
Honesty in Academic Work: A Guide to Students The Chinese University of Hong Kong places very high importance on honesty in academic work submitted by students, and adopts a policy of zero tolerance on cheating and plagiarism. Any related offence will lead to disciplinary action including termination of studies at the University. All student assignments in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes should be submitted via VeriGuide with effect from September 2008:https://academic.veriguide.org/academic/login_CUSCS.jspx Although cases of cheating or plagiarism are rare at the University, everyone should make himself/herself familiar with the content of this website and thereby help avoid any practice that would not be acceptable. Section 1 What is plagiarism https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p01.htm Section 2 Proper use of source material https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p02.htm Section 3 Citation styles https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p03.htm Section 4 Plagiarism and copyright violation https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p04.htm Section 5 CUHK regulations on honesty in academic work https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p05.htm Section 6 CUHK disciplinary guidelines and procedures https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p06.htm Section 7 Guide for teachers and departments https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p07.htm Section 8 Recommended material to be included in course outlines https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p08.htm Section 9 Electronic submission of assignments via VeriGuide https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p09.htm Section 10 Declaration to be included in assignments https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p10.htm Page 7 of 7