| Kommentar |
Future technologies from (Sci-fi) movies and TV series—such as touch screens, video calls or VR glasses—have long become an important part of our everyday lives. Media are everywhere around us; we consume, use, mediate and digest media daily. Most of these media are—and have become—digital; books, newspapers, or physical films become relics when they are transferred into the well-connected and omnipresent digital sphere. As media also mirror and influences the society they are produced in, media productions such as movies and series are a fruitful subject within the field of cultural studies. Artificial intelligence(s) and future technologies have interested and fascinated directors and viewers but also influenced developments in computer science and artificial intelligence, which then inspired directors for new media productions.
This course introduces students to the study of media and its interrelations with culture, society, and itself, laying particular emphasis on film studies and gender representations within media on the theoretical level. After an overview on various aspects of media history, media theory, and media analysis, we will reflect on the roles of and interconnections between media, technology, culture, and society as well as their representations in the media, especially in the Netflix anthology series Love, Death and Robots. The sci-fi series will serve as a starting point from which to analyze the mutual influences of media, culture, and society with a focus on technology from various angles. The series not only offers a broad spectrum of themes and future visions but also bears many references to earlier media productions, which will also be considered to retrace changes over time. Although the course focuses on a specific series and genre, the students will be provided with a toolkit to critically analyze media productions in general and from various angles.
We/you will take the closest look on Love, Death and Robots (2019-present), available on Netflix, as well as related productions, depending on their availability on streaming platforms (Netflix, Prime, Disney+) during the summer term. Possible media productions to investigate are e.g.:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Total Recall (1990)
The Fifth Element (1997)
The Matrix franchise (1999-2021)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Minority Report (2002)
I, Robot (2004)
WALL-E (2008)
Surrogates (2009)
Total Recall (2012)
Pacific Rim (2013)
Detroit: Become Human (2018)
Altered Carbon (2018-2020)
Upload (2020-present)
You will watch some of the films completely, I will use excerpts from others in class. You may, of course, watch all of them! If you have a specific American sci-fi production in mind, which you would like to work on although it is not on this list, no problem. Over the first weeks of the semester, you will have time to explore the corpus and find a media production and topic to work on in your presentation and short paper.
Readings and material: a selection of texts will be provided; the films we will work with are available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ respectively.
Requirements: The introductory part of the course will be accompanied by readings and small writing assignments, students will give a presentation, either in class or as a recording (depending on the number of participants), and write a short paper, which has to be handed in until September 30. |
