Contemporary Stylistics: The Discourse of Film and Drama (Q3152)

15 credits, Level 5

Spring teaching

You engage with central issues and themes in language and literature. Specifically, narrative forms in which the viewers are actively involved as ‘ratified overhearers’.

These include film and drama, where the discourse reflects the typical double plane of communication. Between the characters in the story, on one level, and the external viewers on the other.

We familiarise you with a number of approaches and practices in modern stylistics and explore:

• characterisation
• the relation between real-life and fictional talk
• deixis and the construction of viewpoint
• the notion of narrative.

The module revolves around the idea that theatre and film offer re-presentations of the world. They reorganise and recreate language, together with time and space, in respect of socio-cultural and media conventions and expectations.

We also discuss the concept of genre, focusing on discursive representation in comedy, drama, horror and hybrid genres.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.