Course Catalogue

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This course explores global representations of drugs, addiction, psychedelia and altered states in film and television. From colonial opium trades and indigenous knowledge systems to urban youth culture and future biotech, screen media have powerfully shaped how societies imagine substances and those who use them. Through a transnational lens, students will critically engage with how drugs intersect with race, gender, trauma, spirituality, resistance and representation. Fiction and documentary film and television will be studied in dialogue with cultural, ethical, historical and political contexts.

10 x 1hr lecture,

10 x 1hr seminar over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus

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

None

None

The standard assessments for this course:

■ Midterm essay, (1,500 words) - 40%

■ End of term research project (essay, 5-minute audio-visual essay, curatorial pitch) (2,500 words) - 60%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the midterm essay, but a flexible deadline can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

■ There is no alternative to the end of term research project, but a flexible deadline can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

This course aims to:

■ Provide students with the opportunity to critically explore global representations of drugs, addiction and altered states in film and television.

■ Enable students to engage with interdisciplinary scholarship from film studies, cultural studies, anthropology, and the history of science to examine the intersections between drugs, race, gender, power and spirituality.

■ Foster independent research and analytical skills by inviting students to conduct focused inquiry into specific cinematic or televisual case studies, situating them in their cultural and historical contexts.

■ Develop students' research, analytical and communication skills through written, visual and curatorial forms of assessment.

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

■ Analyse how drugs and addiction are represented in film and television and what these portrayals suggest about culture, politics and identity.

■ Apply key theories from film and cultural studies to interpret depictions of drugs and altered states.

■ Compare examples of drug representation across different periods, genres and national contexts, noting their wider social and political significance.

■ Carry out an independent research project on a film, television text or theme related to drugs, using appropriate scholarly methods.

■ Communicate clear, well-supported arguments in written, oral or audiovisual formats.

■ Regarding the other query, yes I intend on incorporating the reflexive journal into the summative assessment.