FTMSB: Screen Bodies

Module code: FTMSB

Module provider: Film, Theatre and TV; School of Arts and Comm Design

Credits: 20

Level: 7

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Professor Lisa Purse , email: l.v.purse@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 16 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module examines how diverse bodies move on screen, and how those screen bodies engage the spectator’s body. You will explore how the screen representation of the body is shaped by culturally situated ideas about the body and society, power and desire; by creative traditions, influences, technologies and innovations; and by conditions of production and reception. You will consider how the screen body generates meaning, and the ethics of representing the body on screen, including issues of access to representation, visibility, marginalisation, and consent. Case studies will have an international scope, and will focus on various screen bodies, which may include the fighting body, the dancing body, the documentary body, and the disabled body, drawing on body-centred writing in film and television studies, cultural studies, and philosophy. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of key critical and philosophical debates around the representation of the screen body;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of cultural, industrial and artistic drivers for and consequences of the representation of the screen body;
3. Make detailed analyses of individual film and television texts informed by these critical, theoretical, cultural and industrial perspectives;
4. Develop other skills and competencies, which are central to the course. It is expected that the level of skills and competencies achieved in the following will be appropriate to the level of study: oral communication and argument in group situations; deployment of research using printed and electronic resources; critical analysis and coherent argument; undertaking self-directed, independent work; presentation of written work using IT; identifying and addressing problems in the analysis of film and television narration and aesthetics.

Module content

The module will comprise a series of case studies which each focus on a specific instance of screen representation of the body, and the cultural, artistic, industrial, and ethical contexts in which it emerges. Students will bring together their contextual reading and screenings of pertinent materials with seminar discussion. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

A range of teaching styles will be used and may vary from week to week. The dominant teaching form will be the seminar, which will concentrate primarily on close analysis of film and television texts, and discussion of critical approaches, and through which students can test out and develop their thinking in a supportive environment. Where appropriate mini-lectures will be used to establish contexts and introduce issues for discussion and debate at the outset of each case study. Seminars will require preparation in the form of weekly screenings and engagement with specified critical reading and sometimes other types of material.

Study hours

At least 18 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.