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Module tutor: Professor Stephen Gundle

This module is designed to introduce you to the study of the history of film and the study of the relationships between history and film. It will look at key film schools and movements in world cinema history from its first decades and through the twentieth century. The module will provide a survey of a range of national cinemas and situate them in relation to specific historical moments in the history of cinema. It will explore some of the factors in the global success of Hollywood cinema in the first half of the twentieth century and examine some of the ‘new waves’ and ‘new cinemas’ which sprouted up across the globe since the post-World War Two war period. By exploring how cinematic movements are constituted and conceptualised in critical, aesthetic and political discourses, the module will aim to reflect on questions of canon formation, critical practice, the political impact of cinema, circuits of transnationalism, and modes of film production.

Suggested reading:

The module will not use a textbook but two particularly useful books you might usefully look at in advance of the start of term are:

• Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction, fifth edition (2022, or earlier editions).
• Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (ed.), The Oxford History of World Cinema (1996).

Module tutors: Dr Ritika Kaushik and Dr Rick Wallace 

The first part of this module will introduce you to the main critical vocabularies for understanding the analysis of film form and meaning. It will offer extensive practice in developing the skills of close audiovisual film analysis.

The second part of the module will introduce you to the scholarly study of television, complementing and enriching your work on film in the first weeks; it will also equip you to follow a television-focussed strand of study through your degree, if you choose to do so.

Suggested reading:

• David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, twelfth edition (McGraw-Hill, 2020, or earlier editions). This is a useful guide to the terminology of film analysis; it has a comprehensive glossary of terms with which you should familiarise yourself as soon as possible. You can find excerpts from the book on .

• Tom Brown and James Walters (eds.) Film Moments (BFI, 2010). A fascinating anthology of readings of key moments from a broad spectrum of films. Readers in the UK can find an excerpt from the book on .

• Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction, sixth edition (Bedford/St Martin’s, 2021, or earlier editions). A useful survey book that is best consulted in relation to Bordwell and Thompson.

• John Gibbs, Mise-en-Scène: Film Style and Interpretation (London: Wallflower, 2002. A lucid and informative introduction to this key topic for the module.

• V.F. Perkins, Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies (Penguin Books, 1972; De Capo Edition, 1993). An early and very influential book in film studies, written by a founding member of Film and Television Studies at Warwick.

• Jonathan Bignell, An Introduction to Television Studies, fourth edition (Routledge, 2023, or earlier editions). A very useful introductory text on television studies. Readers in the UK can find an excerpt from the book on .

• Milly Buonanno, The Age of Television: Experiences and Theories (Intellect, 2008). A good critical and historical survey of many of the key transformations in television and television studies.

• John Corner, Critical Ideas in Television Studies (Clarendon Press, 2009). A very useful introduction to key theoretical frameworks in television studies.

• Karen Lury, Interpreting Television (Hodder Arnold, 2005). An excellent introduction to the textual study of television.

Module tutor: Professor Catherine Constable

This module will provide you with a thorough appreciation of a major issue that is central to your Film and Literature degree – the adaptation of texts. The first term offers a broad overview of the field by exploring the work of major theorists, including Bluestone, Cardwell, Elliott, Leitch and Stam and focussing on key debates arising in classic novel adaptation, heritage cinema and television, and popular genres, ending with a study of the figure of Sherlock Holmes.

These are the novels we will focus on in the first term and 1-3 are studied in multiple weeks. You will find it very helpful to read as many of the novels as you can before the start of the term – any edition is fine – and you should be able to source most of them through your local library or second hand book shops. The Alice in Wonderland with Tenniel illustrations is preferred but if you can only find a version with different illustrations, then please read that one.

1. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice 

1. Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights 

1. Arthur Conan-Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles 

1. Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography 

1. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland with illustrations by Sir John Tenniel

 I look forward to meeting you in the Autumn – best wishes Catherine.

Module tutor: Dr Myka Tucker-Abramson 

This module aims to provide students with a grounding in theoretical frameworks and methodologies for reading and interpreting literary and cultural texts. Offering different optics through which to think about culture, the module will introduce students to a variety of critical approaches, allowing them to develop an informed awareness of the possibilities available to them as readers and critics. The module situates its exploration of key theoretical debates in relation to a selection of (predominantly) post-1973 cultural texts, including novels, photographs, plays, films, poetry and music.

This module is taught by colleagues in the English and Comparative Literary Studies department. You can find more information about the Term 1 teaching and preparatory reading for Modes of Reading here.