101_syl_fall09

This course is an introduction to the most significant forms of media in modern and contemporary western societies, including print, broadcasting, sound recording, film and video, advertising, and the internet. It is historical in scope even though it is not a chronological survey, and it considers the media as interconnected sets of technologies, industries, texts, and experiences.

The course meets twice weekly for lectures and once weekly for discussion sections. It has no textbook; all reading/viewing assignments are either on electronic reserve or on the internet and linked from the online version of syllabus (which you are reading right now!). Reading and viewing assignments are subject to change, and you should refer to the online syllabus weekly to make sure you are up to date on course requirements. Reading questions will be posted on the course D2L site and you should refer to these when doing your assigned reading (and viewing).

From time to time your instructors will send you e-mail at your UWM account, which you should check every day to make sure you are up-to-date on any course business. E-reserve readings can be accessed by following the “course reserve” link at the library’s website.

Course requirements:

The total number of points for this course is 100.

-Three short (minimum 500 word) papers, each worth 10 points, and one long (minimum 1000 word) paper, worth 20 points, for total of 50 points. All of these paper assignments are due at the beginning of your section meeting. Papers handed in after the section discussion has begun will be penalized one day late;

-section participation and attendance worth 10 points;

-a midterm exam worth 15 points and a final exam worth 25 points. Both exams will include multiple-choice questions. The final exam will also include essay questions. The final exam will not be cumulative.

Course policies:

Section attendance is mandatory. You may miss two section meetings without penalty. This is meant to cover unexpected absences in the event of illness or family emergency. These absences require no excuse or explanation. If you miss three sections, you automatically fail the course. Students who arrive very late or who are late habitually may be considered absent at their instructor’s discretion. There will be no exceptions to the course section attendance policy.

All assignments are due at the beginning of class on their due date. Assignments handed in later in the class period will be considered late. Late assignments will be penalized half a letter grade per day.

Early or makeup exams will be given only for students who have a legitimate religious observance. If you cannot be present on an exam day for any other reason, please do not take this course.

If you need special accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of this course, please contact your instructor as soon as possible, preferably during the first week of the semester.

Academic misconduct, including plagiarism, will be treated severely. Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work and for the proper citation of sources. Please familiarize yourself with the university’s policies and procedures regarding academic misconduct.

To get credit for this course, you must complete all assignments. (This means that if you do not submit a paper or if you miss an exam, you will automatically fail.)

In the event of disruption of normal classroom activities due to an H1N1 swine flu outbreak, the format for this course may be modified to enable completion of the course. In that event, you will be provided an addendum to this syllabus that will supersede this version.

University policies:

Please familiarize yourself with the university’s policies on students with disabilities, religious observance, students called to active military duty, incompletes, discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment), academic misconduct, complaint procedures, grade appeal procedures, and final examinations. Go to http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf for more information about these policies.

GER Distribution Requirements and Learning Goals

To satisfy GER distribution requirements for the Social Sciences, Fac. Doc. 1382 lists 5 criteria. Courses must make at least one of these their intellectual focus. JMC 101 will emphasize the following two instructional purposes:

The study of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and/or socio-cultural factors associated with individual behavior, collective action, or societal development.
The study of human collectivities, organizations, institutions, and cultures, their infrastructures and interrelationships.

Learning Goals:

When you complete this course, you will:

-Understand the socio-cultural factors associated with the development of a society and culture in which mass media are omnipresent features of everyday life, and which are essential in making possible collective action (such as participation in civic life and in community).

-Understand the media industries as institutions with specific infrastructures, which influence the forms of media individuals experience.

To assess the success of this course in meeting these learning goals, your instructors will assess your learning of the course’s material by assigning you four papers and administering two exams to test your mastery of this material. Each of the course’s papers addresses one of the two intellectual foci above. For instance, a paper on media companies addresses focus (b) by assessing your understanding of these companies as human collectivities, organizations, institutions, and cultures. And a paper on civic media addresses focus (a) by assessing your understanding of socio-cultural factors associated with individual behavior, collective action, or societal development as they arise in relation to media texts and their value for audiences and communities.

By reviewing the class’s work, your instructors will know the extent to which the class as a whole has achieved its goals. A review of the course assignments will reveal elements of the course that are being communicated well and those that are not. The specific learning goals will be assessed when your instructor judges the extent and effectiveness of your consideration of socio-cultural factors associated with the development of a society and culture in which mass media are omnipresent, and of the media industries as institutions which influence the forms of media individuals experience. This will enable your instructors to make changes to the course to increase success in those areas where improvement is desired.

Schedule of class meetings:

(Readings marked with an asterisk (*) are on electronic reserve. Other readings/viewings are on the internet unless otherwise noted.)

Day 1: Course Introduction (W 9/2)

Unit I: Media to Sell

Day 2: Today's Media Companies and their Strategies (W 9/9) Read David Croteau & William Hoynes, "Introduction"* and "Chapter 4: Strategies of the New Media Giants"*

Day 3: Media Company: Disney (M 9/14) Read Janet Wasko, "The Disney Empire"*; View "Disneyland Intro" (additional in-class videos: Weddings of a Lifetime clip 1 and Weddings of a Lifetime clip 2)

Day 4: Media Franchise: Batman (W 9/16) Read Eileen Meehan, "'Holy Commodity Fetish, Batman!': The Political Economy of a Commercial Intertext"*; View "Batdance", Batman (1989) trailer (Recommended: Wikipedia, "Batman", "Batman Franchise Media")

Day 5: Advertising (M 9/21) Read Inger L. Stole, "Advertising"*; View "Chanel No. 5" ad

Day 6: MTV (W 9/23) Read Ed Levine, "TV Rocks With Music"* and Janet Maslin, "TV View; A Song is No Longer Strictly a Song, Now It's a 'Video'"* view music videos:

MTV 1983 (This is a VHS recording of MTV from 1983, and it's 85 minutes long so you don't need to watch it all, but please do watch enough to get a sense of what MTV was like in its early years, and to see its different segments: VJs, videos, promotions for MTV programming, and commercials.)

Phil Collins, "Against All Odds" (An example of a video repurposing material from a Hollywood movie, Against All Odds.)

Journey, "Separate Ways" (Discussed in the reading.)

Duran Duran, "Save a Prayer" (A good example of a video from these early years with a high-concept look and an expensive budget, showing that videos could be imaginative and aesthetically impressive.)

Sections 9/23, 9/24, 9/25 short paper due; topic: media franchises

Day 7: Google (M 9/28) Read Randall Stross, “Introduction”* and “Open and Closed”*

Unit II: Media to Entertain

Day 8: Entertainment (W 9/30) Read Neal Gabler, "The Republic of Entertainment"*

Day 9: Hollywood I (M 10/5) Read Douglas Gomery, "The Triumph of Hollywood"*

(T 10/6 screening: Singin' in the Rain 7 pm BOL 150; attendance at the screening is optional but watching the movie is required)

Day 10: Hollywood II (W 10/7) View Singin' in the Rain (see special screening above; this movie is on reserve at the multi-media library and widely available to buy or rent)

Day 11: Television Drama (M 10/12) View a 1-hr TV drama TBA; Read Michael Z. Newman, "From Beats to Arcs"*

Day 12: Videogames (W 10/14) Read Steven R. Poole, "The Origin of Species"* and "The Player of Games"*

Sections 10/14, 10/15, 10/16: short paper due; topic: entertaining media

Day 13: Midterm Exam (M 10/19)

Unit III: Media as Civic Culture

Day 14: Media for Citizens (W 10/21) Read Peter Dahlgren, "Media, Citizenship and Civic Culture"*

Day 15: Newspapers and their Public (M 10/26) Read Michael Schudson, "The Revolution in American Journalism in the Age of Egalitarianism: The Penny Press"*

Day 16: News Culture and New Technologies (W 10/28) Read Michael Schudson, "National News Culture and the Informational Citizen"*

Day 17: “Fake” News (M 11/2) Read Geoffrey Baym, “The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism”*

Day 18: Digital Publics (W 11/4) Read Howard Rheingold, "A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community"

Sections 11/4, 11/5, 11/6 long paper due; topic: media and civic culture

Day 19: Media by Citizens (M 11/9) Read Wikipedia, "Citizen Journalism"; Steve Outing, "The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism"; Jay Rosen, "The People Formerly Known as the Audience"; Jeff Jarvis, "Networked Journalism"

Day 20: Newspapers in Crisis (W 11/11) Read Eric Alterman, "Out of Print"; Marc Eisen, "Paperless Future"

Unit IV: Media to Document Reality

Day 21: Representing Experience (M 11/16) Read Anthony Lane, "Candid Camera: The Cult of Leica"*

Day 22: Photography (W 11/18) Read John Szarkowski, "The Photographer's Eye"*; Mia Fineman, "Say Cheese!: A History of the American Snapshot"; Alex Williams, "Here I Am Taking My Own Picture"

Day 23: The Moving Image (M 11/23) View Early Lumière Films; Early Edison Films; Méliès's The Black Imp; Read Eric Barnouw, Documentary, pp. 1-51*

No class W 11/25 and no sections this week – Thanksgiving break

Day 24: Reality TV (M 11/30) Read Susan Murray, “’I Think We Need a New Name For It’: The Meeting of Documentary and Reality TV”* and Michael Hirschorn, "The Case for Reality TV"

Day 25: Sound Recording and Music I (W 12/2) Read Michael Chanan, "Record Culture"*

Day 26: Sound Recording and Music II (M 12/7) Read Mark Katz, "Music in 1s and 0s"*; Listen to Paul Lansky, "notjustmoreidlechatter"; Camille Yarbrough, "Take Yo' Praise"; Fatboy Slim, "Praise You"; Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"

Day 27: Remix Culture (W 12/9) Read articles from Wired 13.07 in the section "remix planet" (yeah, all of them--they're short!)

Sections 12/9, 12/10, 12/11 short paper due; topic: documentary/Reality TV

Day 28: Course Summary (M 12/14)

Final Exam Friday, December 18, 3:00 – 5:00 pm

Grade breakdown:

93-100 A

90-92 A-

87-89 B+

83-86 B

80-82 B-

77-79 C+

73-76 C

70-73 C-

67-69 D+

63-66 D

60-62 D-

less than 60 F

References

Eric Alterman, "Out of Print: The Death and Life of the American Newspaper" The New Yorker (31 March 2008).

Erik Barnow, Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film (New York: Oxford UP, 1974).

Geoffrey Baym, "The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism" Political Communication 22.3 (2005), 259-276.

Michael Chanan, "Record Culture," Repeated Takes: A Short History of Recording and Its Effects on Music (London: Verso, 1995).

"Citizen Journalism," Wikipedia.

David Croteau and William Hoynes, The Business of Media: Corporate Media and the Public Interest (Pine Forge, 2005).

Peter Dahlgren, "Media, Citizenship, and Civic Culture," in James Curran and Michael Gurevitch, eds., Mass Media and Society 3rd ed. (London: Arnold, 2000), 310-328.

Marc Eisen, "Paperless Future," Wisconsin Interest 18.1 (March 2009).

Neal Gabler, "The Republic of Entertainment," Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality (New York: Vintage, 2000).

Douglas Gomery, "The Triumph of Hollywood," Movie History: A Survey (Wadsworth, 1991).

Michael Hirschorn, "The Case for Reality TV," Atlantic Monthly (May 2007).

Jeff Jarvis, "Networked Journalism," BuzzMachine (5 July 2006).

Mark Katz, "Music in 1s and 0s," Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music (Berkeley: U of California P, 2004).

Anthony Lane, "Candid Camera: The Cult of Leica," The New Yorker (24 September 2007).

Ed Levine, "TV Rocks With Music," New York Times (8 May 1983).

Janet Maslin, "TV View; A Song is No Longer Strictly a Song, Now It's a 'Video,'" New York Times (23 January 1983).

Eileen Meehan, "Holy Commodity Fetish, Batman!" in Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio, eds., The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and his Media (New York: Routledge, 1991).

Susan Murray, "“’I Think We Need a New Name For It’: The Meeting of Documentary and Reality TV” in Susan Murray and Laurie Ouelette, eds., Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (New York: New York UP, 2004), 40-56.

Michael Z. Newman, "From Beats to Arcs: Toward a Poetics of Television Narrative," The Velvet Light Trap 58 (Fall 2006), 16-28.

Steve Outing, "The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism," Poynter Online (15 June 2005).

Stephen R. Poole, Trigger Happy (Fourth Estate, 2001).

Howard Rheingold, "A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community," The Virtual Community: Homesteading On The Electronic Fronier (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1993).

Jay Rosen, "The People Formerly Known as the Audience," PressThink (27 June 2006).

Michael Schudson, "The Revolution in American Journalism in the Age of Egalitarianism: The Penny Press," Discovering The News: A Social History of American Newspapers (Basic Books, 1980).

Michael Schudson, "National News Culture and the Informational Citizen," The Power of News (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1996).

Inger L. Stole, "Advertising," in Richard Maxwell, Ed., Culture Works: The Political Economy of Culture (Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2001).

Randall Stross, "Introduction" and "Open and Closed," Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know (New York: Free Press, 2008).

John Szarkowski, The Photographer's Eye (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1966/2007).

Janet Wasko, Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy (Polity, 2001).

Michael Z. Newman
Dept of Journalism & Mass Communication
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee