Film & TV and History BA (Hons)

Core modules

Theorising the Screen

This module explores some of the key theories that have shaped our understanding of the screen. It draws upon classic works of film theory and television studies as well as theories that have adhered to more marginal and alternative screens, audiences, and industries.

The Historian's Craft

This module will challenge you to critically investigate the problems posed by the nature and limits of historical knowledge and consider how history is communicated. The module will allow you to explore final year dissertation research in History, as you'll be informed on how best to identify a research topic and to conceptualise the research thesis.

Humanities in the Workplace

This module will give you a taste of live industry experience. You will undertake a placement, writing a report about your experience and comprising of clear work-based learning objectives.

Film & TV optional modules

British Cinema

This module examines British Cinema since the 1960's. It looks at a wide range of films to understand how British cinema represents issues such as nation, class, race and gender. It discusses key genres, movements and theoretical debates.

Analysing British Television

This module introduces you to key ways of understanding the development of British television. It examines the evolution of British television industries and institutions from their beginnings up to the present, looking at important factors and influences that have shaped the industry over time. It explores different accounts of ‘Britishness’ both in television shows or formats and in the relationship between television producers and audiences.

European Cinema and the City

This module starts from the dual observation that cinema is the art of the modern and that the city is the space of the modern. It builds on this to examine the interaction of cinema and the urban: how film has both represented and been shaped by the city.

History optional modules

Land of Liberty: History of the United States, 1815-2000

Consider the forces which have shaped American history between 1815 -2000. The module pays specific attention to the ways that major social, economic and political changes have taken place during this time period. You'll explore key historical debates and study a range of primary sources.

The Crusades

The triumph of the First Crusade (1099) resulted in the establishment of a Western European community in the Levant for almost two hundred years. In this course you'll investigate not only why such an event took place, but trace its impact and the development of subsequent expeditions through the twelfth century. You'll investigate the events that took place in both the Muslim world and Western Christendom directly before the advent of the crusades.

Fascism in Europe, 1915-45

This module introduces you to the historical development of Fascism as a political movement and regime. The module introduces historical characters and events such as, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Hitler and the Third Reich, General Franco and the Spanish Civil War. The module takes into consideration issues such as gender and homosexuality, racism, propaganda, and architecture in Fascist regimes.

Age of Reformations

Explore one of the major historical events of the early modern period: the Reformation(s) of Martin Luther, John Calvin and the Tudors and Stuart monarchs.

The Eagle and the Snake: Conquests and Colonisations of Mexico

This module will examine the civilisations of Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish. You'll analyse  the social, political, and cultural characteristics of the native Mexican civilisations. Through lectures and seminars you'll examine a range of 'clash of cultures' that happened, for example when the first European settlers arrived.

Early Modern Emotions

This module will challenge you to decode the emotional landscape of early modern Britain. You will work to understand our emotional past through examination and analysis of a wealth of textual, physical and visual evidence, historical objects, material culture and diverse media. These can include ballads, wills, diaries, art, sculpture, architecture and landscape.

Core module

Dissertation

The final year dissertation module enables you to undertake a sustained, single piece of independently researched work on a topic of your choice, under expert supervision.

OR

Humanities Research Project

Explore your interests in a way that draws on both subject areas. Combine the knowledge and skills you have gained in each of your subjects to complete an interdisciplinary piece of research. You can deliver your project either as a written dissertation or through an alternative creative format such as a publication, film, podcast, website, or performance, supported by a shorter essay.

Film & TV optional modules

American Television since 1950

This module examines American television from the 1950s to the current moment. It moves from the emergence of the Classic Network Era through to the Post-Network era of digital television. It places American television in its historical, industrial and cultural context. It considers the formal and aesthetic properties of American television programmes and engages with the organization and history of network television (for example NBC) and cable television (for example HBO).

American Cinema since 1949: Margins and Mainstreams

This very popular module explores American cinema from 1949 to the present day by looking at different but interrelated areas of production, typically including Hollywood, the Independent Sector, and the experimental-underground cinema.

International Cinemas II

This module considers a variety of subjects pertaining to the study of international cinemas. Issues and concepts such as slow cinema, New Wave cinema, Diasporic filmmaking and world cinema blockbusters will feature amongst case studies of European, South American and Asian cinemas. While it will pay due attention to film style and form and to the way films engage with socio-cultural and political contexts, it will also examine the policy and film industrial frameworks within which film is produced.

History optional modules

Real-Life Work Project

This module will give you the chance to develop and apply historical  skills to real world situations for external clients. The module will enhance your chances of employability post university,  enhance your confidence and awareness of transferable skills whilst developing and delivering work to external client briefs. External clients will include: museums, heritage sites, charities, trusts, local organisations and private businesses.

Crusading Cultures and Communities

This module will allow you to explore the impact of crusading activities on societies in Medieval Europe. It will start by providing an overview of crusading in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and go on to look at a series of case studies in order to highlight the pervasive and Protean nature of the crusade agenda.

Early Modern Revolution and War

This module contextualises the civil wars across the British Isles in the period 1639-1660 within the context of the debate on the concept of military revolution with the wider background of the European Sphere,  the Dutch Wars and the Thirty Years War. The module will also include a study of leadership and political/religious commitment, again within the background of the revolution/evolution debate.

The African American Experience in History and Memory

This module will examine the historical experience of black people in the United States of America. You'll consider slavery in the United States and investigate how both slavery and racism took place and spread across North America during the colonial period, to the mature plantation society and right before the civil war. During the second part of the module you will consider African- American experiences after Emancipation.

Living and Dying in Reformation Britain

This module explores key themes in the social and cultural history of Reformation Britain. You'll debate with your peers on the  continuities and changes in religious belief and experiences, social attitudes, and cultural practices. The first part of the module  explores the lasting impact of the Reformations on various aspects of life and lived experience in early modern England. The second part will explore the end of life, in regards to aspects of death and remembrance.

The Holocaust in History and Memory

In this module, we examine both the history of the Holocaust and interrogate how it has been discussed and commemorated in myriad ways. From the rise of hyper-nationalism, fascism and virulent racism in Germany, to the ways and places the Holocaust has been remembered, the aim is to develop your understanding of what made this genocide possible and how it was perpetrated.

Britain, War and Society in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

You will explore the key themes in the social, economic and political history of modern Britain from the Victorian period onward, and reflect on the relationship between complex interconnected issues during a transformative period in British history. The module takes a broad chronological sweep incorporating a range of conflicts and how these have impacted democracy, empire, welfare, politics and our lives.