COMM 581 - Television Criticism

This is a theoretical and practical course with the objective of introducing students to Television Critical Studies, or what is commonly called, within academics, “television criticism” (a parallel with literary criticism). The course will rely on a series of interdisciplinary theories that place television as a unique meaning-producing medium. We will dissect television’s narrative and non-narrative structures and its uses of mise-en-scene, cinematography/videography, editing, and sound. Additionally, we will confront the critical methods that have been applied to critically understand the social, cultural, political, and economical issues surrounding the medium: semiotics, genre study, ideological criticism, cultural studies, and so on. On the practical side, students will have the opportunity to develop their own academic criticism as well as a critical review of a TV show they currently enjoy viewing to have a more nuanced understanding of how it affects them and those around them.

Course credits: 4