SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 221-3

MEDIA AND AUDIENCES

Prerequisite:

CMNS 110 or 130.

This course is an introduction to the study of popular culture and communication with a focus on the relationships between media forms, media content, technologies and audiences. The course examines these relationships in terms of critical contemporary issues in media, society and popular culture, and in terms of specific case studies in film, music, advertising, education, art, television and so on.

There are a broad range of themes that define the course, and which involve key analytical questions for the study of media and audiences: popular culture in the social sciences; the development of popular culture as consumer culture; the cultural dimensions of technology and the technological dimensions of culture; theories of mass culture and society; the nature and role of audiences in contemporary media culture; the dominance of the visual in popular culture; theories of postmodernism, globalization and post-industrialism in popular culture and identity; consumerism and the transformation of social institutions; social advertising and social issues communication; grassroots cultural and global social movements; and others.

Evaluation:

Tutorial participation: 15%
Mid-term examination (Oct. 15): 20%
Term paper (Nov. 19): 40%
Final take-home examination (Nov. 26-Dec. 4): 25%

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty” and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations section).
Readings: A detailed week-by-week lecture and reading schedule will be distributed in class.