ENG 4815 Fall 2020 Edwards

This capstone course for the EWM track investigates issues of textuality. We will examine theories of textuality in the context of media history. In case studies drawn from literature, graphic novels, new media, television, film, and popular music, we will be considering how "texts" generate circuits of meaning in relation to production, consumption, and socio-historical context. We will discuss some of the most compelling media trends today, including the rise of participatory fan culture, the turn toward serialized narrative, and new developments in visual realism (from documentary to reality television). We will also look closely at the relationship between media, popular culture, and folk culture. Our focus will be on U.S. culture, but we will consider questions of globalization and make use of transnational critical frameworks. Assignments include Canvas discussion posts, a midterm exam, two shorter essays, and the longer final essay. In a final project involving both theory and practice, students will get the chance to produce their own multimedia text and to analyze how their own work engages issues of textuality.