Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

This course will investigate both contemporary and historic television programming and screen media for children. It will examine a variety of TV programmes and media practices in relation to a series of critical frameworks including constructions of the child and childhood, learning, play and pedagogy, multi-platform content and interactivity, generic and aesthetic frameworks such as 'cuteness', comedy, horror and fantasy for children, and the intergenerational appeal of children's media cultures.

Lecture - 10 x 1 hour over 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus
Screening - 10 x 2 hours over 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus
Seminar - 10 x 1 hour over 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into MA Film and Television Studies, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

None

None

Essay (2500 words) - 60%

Report (1500 word or equivalent AV submission) (40%)

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Investigate the relationship between the child viewer, television and related media

■ Introduce the genre of 'children's television' and to examine its aesthetics and the significance of production values, production location and related policy issues

■ Examine how children's TV and media fits into the current construction and perception of the 'child' - with particular reference to concerns raised in connection with the alleged 'commodification' of childhood

By the end of this course students will be able to:

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Comprehend the critical, historical and theoretical approaches to the study of the child and childhood in relation to television and related media

■ Assess and analyse a range of different television and media texts and practices that have been developed for a child audience.  

■ Question the complex inter-relationship between toys, play and marketing with the form and function of children's television and media.  Apply this knowledge through the delivery of a creative report.

■ Debate issues such as the 'death of childhood' and the 'infantilisation' of popular culture and relate these debates to specific texts and contexts.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.