Course Objectives

This course aims to:

Provide students with an overview of media in Britain within a social context.

Put special emphasis on the relationship between media, citizenship and democracy in the context of post-war British society.

Give students the ability to write critically about and have an understanding of the cultural and industrial context of film and TV from 1960 to the present day.

Develop greater insight about the conventions, objectives and structures of specific film and TV genres.

Course materials are listed below.  Please log in to view these items.

Course Comments

"Great class, I learned more than expected about British culture." Anon., Fall 2009

"Haeffner was a great professor, intellectually stimulating and well prepared." Anon., Fall 2009

“Christine is great. This was an interesting class, and it gave an interesting perspective on British culture.” Anon., Spring 2008

“Both professors made coming to class something I looked forward to. They presented the material in an interesting way and fostered my interest in the films presented. They are both genuinely interested and knowledgeable about the subject.” Anon., Fall 2008

“Dr. Haeffner and Fanthome provided a very interesting and comprehensive overview of British TV and film; great class covering a whole new overseas perspective on film.” Anon., Fall 2008

Faculty Information

Dr Nicholas Haeffner holds a DPhil in Media and Cultural Studies and an MA in English Literature from the University of Sussex and a BA from the University of East London in Cultural Studies. He has been a Lecturer in Communications Studies at London Guildhall University since 1990 as well as teaching at several other London-based universities. He is the author of On Directors: Alfred Hitchcock (2005) and is co-editor of the journal Subject Matters: Communications and the Self to which he is a regular contributor. He is currently working on a study of British Cinema in the 1980s.

Dr Christine Fanthome began her career at Thames Television, where she worked in a variety of positions including senior researcher, associate producer, reporter and continuity scriptwriter. After taking an MA and a PhD in Media and Communication at London University she is now a writer, consultant and lecturer. In addition to teaching at BU-London, she runs a media audiences course for postgraduates at City University, London. She is the author of three important academic publications The Student Life Handbook (Palgrave, 2005), Work Placements: A survival guide for student (Palgrave, 2004), and Channel 5: The Early Years, (University of Luton Press, 2003).  Christine is also Chair of the Regional Audience Council for BBC London and a member of Audience Council England which supports the BBC Trust.

Course Syllabus and Materials

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