Interdisciplinary Foundation Subject
100-184: From Homer to Hollywood
This subject is offered in semester one.
Subject Description
This subject will explore the representation of war across different cultures and a range of genres of writing, film and art. Beginning with texts from ancient Greece and Rome, we will move through a number of periods of European and non-European history to ask questions about how narrative is built around conflict. We will consider how words and images construct stories, thinking about how depictions of war engage with the epic classical tradition.
In addition to examining representations of battles and reactions from those on the front, we will consider the role of ‘home’ in narratives of war, both as a place to be defended and as a site of nostalgic yearning, paying particular attention to the cultural construction of gender. By juxtaposing the domestic with the battlefield we will address the roles of those who are left behind, along with the challenges involved in representing the horrors of war.
Subject Objectives
Students who complete this subject should:
- have an enlarged understanding of the way war and other forms of social conflict are represented in a range of different societies;
- have learnt to analyse the conditions of representation in different genres;
- have a critical understanding of the way gender roles are constructed in different cultures and different genres;
- have a basic understanding of narrative theory;
- understand the different expressive possibilities of verbal and visual texts, and of multimedia texts such as film.
Interdisciplinary Foundation Skills
Students who complete this subject should:
- understand a range of disciplines and methodologies appropriate to the texts, artefacts, theoretical structures and social practices with which they are concerned;
- have developed a capacity for critical thought and analysis through the construction and articulation of lucid, logical arguments;
- have developed oral and written skills through essay writing and tutorial participation;
- have acquired the tools for independent and targeted research, using library and other information services;
- have the ability to organise and manage their time through the planning of class assessments and the meeting of set due dates.