TELEVISION AND AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATION

The module is part of the historical and artistic cluster within the MA in Economics & Management of Arts and Cultural Activities (EGArt).

For the a.y. 2021/2022 the module will be taught in English.

Upon successful completion of the module, students will know how various contemporary audiovisual forms can be closely and critically examined together with several perspectives on fashion and will be able to relate them to the creative and interdisciplinary dynamics that characterise cultural industries. Additionally, students will be able to interpret and correctly read a wide range of scholarly texts (‘close reading’) and contemporary tele-/audiovisual forms employing the concepts and orientations developed within the disciplines of TV, Media Studies and Screen Arts.

Students are expected to develop critical thinking, and to reflect upon the materials and to engage creatively with the readings, concepts and issues at stake. Ultimately, such critical thinking is expected to be individually articulated, constructively structured and collectively discussed using self-chosen case studies while providing convincing argumentation. This is truly an essential skill not only because it will contribute to favour an interactive and dialogic environment in the classroom, but also and primarily because it is a key transferable skill required by the job market for pretty much each and every professional profile in line with the overall programme.

Content-wise, there are no entry requirement requested. Some knowledge around audiovisual media may nonetheless make the module a little easier.
In terms of linguistic skills, ia good command of the English language is required in order to be able to properly scrutinize and understand the bibliography and to express yourself during class discussions.

In recent years, we have witnessed an increasing interest in thinking about fashion and clothing that coincides with its ubiquitous presence in present-day audiovisual media and popular culture at large. Not doubt that fashion is an active force within culture and creative industries and that clothing is one of the most significant means to express and communicate one’s identity.

This course will combine various perspectives in order to investigate how fashion challenges our experience and knowledge of the audiovisual culture and media world we live in. The course will introduce students to think critically about the role of fashion and clothes in various aspects of contemporary cultures, and reflect upon how the sartorial is actively and intimately connected to tele/audio-visual media, screen and performance arts.

Costume and clothing are obviously instrumental to storytelling as well as key to constructing the identity of the screen characters. Yet there is more. In the context of media and audiovisual/screen arts, fashion does not only encompass the functional use of costumes, but also refers to specific visual forms and aesthetic modes of presentation, to materiality, to stardom and celebrity, to politics and activism, as well as to a distinct system of signs and commodities that permeate our audiovisual and screen-based environment. What is more, in exploring audiovisual media together with the field of fashion we can begin to understand the tenacity of multiple motifs and issues in our contemporary (digital) culture: the body, the society of spectacle, the haptic (tactile) dimension of both fashion and media, movement and mobility, history and memory, questions of creativity and style, concepts of intertextuality and intermediality, or exhibitionism and fetishism, to name but a few. We will engage in a variety of media such as TV series, commercials, the genre of costume drama, art videos, short fiction films, documentaries, and other social and cultural platforms – that are addressing, literally or metaphorically, fashion and clothes.

The course will offer various academic and disciplinary approaches to fashion and sartorial objects. A wide range of frameworks, methods and topics (from e.g. media studies, cultural studies, history, sociology, philosophy) will be explored.

Particular attention will be paid to the role of costumes in audiovisual media and the increasing popularity of historical/costumes drama TV series or, from a different view point, to the various ways of approaching the notion of material object. In other words, we will discuss fashion and satorial objects in media but also as media.

I frequentanti sono tenuti a preparare per l’esame le letture distribuite a lezione con cadenza settimanale. L’elenco dettagliato verrà dato a lezione di settimana in settimana e contestualmente caricato su Moodle assieme ai materiali stessi.

I non frequentanti sono tenuti a preparare la seguente bibliografia:

-Anneke Smelik, “The Performance of Authenticity.” Address. Journal for Fashion Writing and Criticism, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, p. 76-82.
-Elizabeth Ezra, “Consuming Objects”, in The Cinema of Things. Globalization and the Posthuman Object, London: Bloomsbury, 2018, p. 31-66.
-Elizabeth Ezra and Catherine Weathley, “Introduction: Foot Notes”, in Shoe Reels: The History and Philosophy of Footwear in Film, ed. by Elizabeth Ezra and Catherine Wheatley,
Edinburgh University Press, 2020, p. 1-25.
-Christoph Lindner, “The Oblique Art of Shoes: Popular Culture, Aesthetic Pleasure, and the Humanities. Journal for Cultural Research, vol. 19, no.3, 2015, p. 233-247,
-Georgio Riello, “The Object of Fashion: Methodological Approaches to the History of Fashion ». Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, vol. 3, 2011, p. 1-11.
-Pamela Church Gibson, Fashion and Celebrity Culture, London, Berg, 2012, p. 83-102.
-Meg McLagan, “Human Rights, Testimony, and Transnational Publicity”, The Scholar and Feminist Online, vol. 2, no 1, Summer 2003.
-Therese Andersson, “Costume Cinema and Materiality: Telling the Story of Marie Antoinette through Dress”. Culture Unbound 3, 2011, p. 101-112.
-Marketa Uhlirova. “The Fashion Film Effect”, in Fashion Media: Past and Present, edited by Djurdja Bartlett, Shaun Cole and Agnès Rocamora, London, Bloomsbury, 2013, p. 118-
129.
-Gary Needham, “The Digital Fashion Film”. In Fashion Cultures Revisited: Theories, Explorations and Analysis, New York, Routledge, 2013, p. 103-111.

Please note that for those who will not attend the classes an extra reading (e.g. book) will be assigned in agreement with the teacher.

The students coming to classes will see their exam distributed over the course of the module.
The final grade will consist of:

- One group presentation. More specific instructions will be given in class. < 50 % of the overall module grade >
- An oral test at the end of the class to assess the understanding of the theories, concepts and themes covered throughout the module. < 50 % of the overall module grade >

The students skipping 4 or more lectures will be assessed solely on the basis of an oral test (100% of the overall module grade) aimed at both checking the correct understanding of the concepts and arguments discussed in the bibliography, and the ability to inform a critical discussion of the same materials.

The module adopts seminar-oriented strategies in order to favour knowledge transfer, as well as to create a participatory, interactive and dynamic teaching environment.

The course will mainly rely on discussions related to the weekly assigned readings and viewings that will be carefully explored and analysed in class. In that sense, the class combines theory (e.g. reading texts) and practice (e.g. bringing your own examples or projects).

Italian

Students are warmly suggested to take their classes. When this is not possible, please do get in touch with your lecturer at the beginning of the module and say so.
Students who will skip over 30% of the module (i.e. 4 lectures) are expected to prepare a specific programme designed as a replacement of the activities which took place in class and they missed. Further details will be discussed with the teacher.

Ca' Foscari applies the Italian law (17/1999; 170/2010) for the support services available to students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities. If you have either a motor, visual, hearing or another disability (Law 17/1999), or a specific learning disorder (Law 170/2010) and you require support (classroom assistance, tech aids to carry out exams or personalised exams, accessible format materials, notes retrieval, special tutoring as study support, translators or else), please contact the Disability and DSA office disabilita@unive.it.

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