UCL - Media narratology

[COMU2250]

[30h] 5 credits

Teacher(s): Philippe Marion

Language: French

Level: Second

Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Main themes

The main aim of this course is to establish the theoretical basis of a form of media narratology, or narrative media discourse, in the sense of the interactive meeting (even the reciprocal construction) of narratives and the media. It will include an analysis of the characteristics of narrative communication, as a specific approach to producing a new way of writing narrative for the media in the framework of a relationship established with a given population. It will also evaluate differences between the various forms of narrative activities from the point at which they meet the force of inertia that characterises the media charged with transmitting them.

Content and teaching methods

Students will first of all examine the formal and communications components of narration, and note will be taken of the distribution of the narrative genre in various basic narratives (e.g. writing, images and the stage). After a global approach to the issues and practicalities of a representation of the world (real or fictitious, actual or virtual), the course will provide an evaluation of the narrative and imaginary potential intrinsically linked to todays most important forms of media (e.g. cinema, television, strip cartoons and the press). The course will observe the way certain contemporary narratives (e.g. reporting, documentaries and drama) and relying on distinctive features are constructed and developed in profound interaction with the formal and communications features that characterise these forms of the media. Attention will be drawn to issues raised by the circulation of a narrative in different branches of the media. On the basis of an analysis of various cases (e.g. multi-media narratives of a news item, or a transfer from literature to film), the focus will be on questions of trans-semiotics and the issue of adaptation.
The course will incorporate a section including theoretical exposition and case studies.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

The course will include a share of theoretical and case studies.