Course 2020-2021 a.y.

30469 - CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE ARTS II - MODULE I (TELEVISION AND CULTURE)

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
CLEACC (6 credits - I sem. - OBS  |  L-ART/06)
Course Director:
ANDREA QUARTARONE

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: ANDREA QUARTARONE


Suggested background knowledge

The course does not require proficiency in communication, mass media, contemporary history or politics, but it does demand a genuine interest in all these subjects.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

KENNEDY / NIXON + BIDEN / TRUMP Always defined as a ‘window to the world’, television has been for many years the most important and the most penetrating media available with an extraordinary capability in amplifying the actuality depicted. In doing so it has contributed in determining the reality perception and in influencing its development. The analytical study of television representation of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Milhous Nixon personal and public stories, as well as their political rivalry examined in parallel with the 2020 Biden / Trump U.S. presidential election concurrent with the course, will enable students to deeply and widely understand the strategic role held by the medium in social, cultural, political changes in any national and international contexts.

CONTENT SUMMARY

The course subject is the analysis of the television representation of two of the most important personalities of the nineteenth century: John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Milhous Nixon. Strictly connected with the 2020 Biden / Trump U.S. presidential election and built on a solid theoretical/critical basis, mostly linked to cultural studies, sociology and political journalism theories, the course consider with particular attention three significant cases histories those have set the television event’s paradigm for many years:

The first historical 1960 presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon analysed in parallel with the ones between 2020 presidential candidates - that have revolutionized the way of looking at res publica in television and still nowadays influences the treatment reserved by the medium to the political topic. It’s the medium that informs.

The 1963 Kennedy assassination in Dallas and the following few days, that had originated the longest and most important live coverage in the worldwide television history until 9/11. It’s the medium that narrates.

The 1977 Frost/Nixon interviews, when the former U.S. President admitted his responsibilities in the Watergate scandal which led to his resignation, three years before. It’s the medium that changes history.

 

The media coverage of the 2020 U.S. Presidential race and election between Joseph Robinett Biden and Donald J. Trump will be extensivly processed by the course and its class activities, especially with:

An on-going, day-by-day, in-class analysis and debate about the most important campaign media issues

A digital newsroom, made by volunteer students and coordinated by the professor and the tutor, that will collect data and informations, and provide critical interpretations about the campaign in order to realize…

…a weekly radio program on Radio Bocconi that will summerize, illustrate and explain in a critical way the most important media events of the week

For the presidential debates and the election day special nightly radio marathons will be held by teacher and students, with the participation of guests (media experts, professors, journalists).


Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Identify and illustrate the complexity of television communication spectrum.
  • Define and summarize the historical and actual role of television in societies.
  • Explore and explain the relation between television and audiences, politics, cultures.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Analyze and understand the ideological architecture of television.
  • Evaluate the past and the actual social dimension of the medium, and foresee any possible development.
  • Prepare her/himself to become a television professional with a full awarness of the potentialities of the medium and a full consciousness of the social and civil responsabilities involved in the cultural production.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Individual assignments
  • Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

DETAILS

The teaching style is characterized by the regular screening of audiovisual materials and a strong, continuous, meaning-creation oriented, interaction between teacher-students-external lecturers. In addition to this:

  • Guest speakers will provide a different (broader, narrower or lateral) perspectives on the course topics.
  • Individual assignments will provide students the possibility to develop and express their own critical skills.
  • Not compulsory activites, such as the newsroom and the radio program production, will bring further development and insight in the analysis of media logic in content production and transformation

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Oral individual exam
    x
  • Individual assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
    x

ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • Individual assignment: a 2-pages critical essay - delivered some weeks before the exam - about one of the topics discussed in class choosen by the student, in order to evaluate her/his capabilities in: 
    • Evaluate the past and the actual social dimension of the medium, and foresee any possible development.
    • Analyze and understand the ideological architecture of television.
  • Oral individual exam: answers, explanations or personal perspectives provided about specific questions about course topics. The exam is designed to evaluate student capabilities in:
    • Define and summarize the historical and actual role of television in societies.
    • Identify and illustrate the complexity of television communication spectrum.
    • Explore and explain the relation between television and audiences, politics, cultures.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • A final, oral exam about two books (more detailed aspects are included in the syllabus). It's designed to evaluate candidate capabilities in:
    • Define and summarize the historical and actual role of television in societies.
    • Identify and illustrate the complexity of television communication spectrum.
    • Explore and explain the relation between television and audiences, politics, cultures.

Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

Slides, personal notes and a bibliography as expressed in the syllabus at the beginning of the course.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Bibliography is expressed in the syllabus at the beginning of the course.

Last change 16/07/2020 18:24