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FS20240

Academic Year 2024/2025

Panel to Screen: Adapting Sequential Art (FS20240)

Subject:
Film Studies
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
English, Drama & Film
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Max Bledstein
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Although films based on comics have contributed to some of the most successful Hollywood franchises in recent years, as exemplified by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is a longer and more diverse history of relationships between these two media. The module uses notable examples from this history to explore both the particular affordances of film and comics and how cinematic adaptations of comics can help us to think through what happens when artists translate one visual medium into another. Comics adaptations function as a case study for considering intertextual relationships between visual texts within different media. We will examine manifestations of these relationships by studying films based on comics within four key categories: the everyday, the fantastical, crime, and superheroes. The films will be contextualised through the work of scholars who have theorised the functions of cinema, comics, and the complex connections between the forms. Through studying these films and the scholarship, students will learn to think critically about the qualities of individual media and the mutual imbrication of related forms.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

• Use vocabulary and theoretical frameworks relevant to comics and film to perform detailed scholarly analysis
• Write critically about the relationship between comics and film in terms of aesthetic, cultural, and industrial factors
• Analyse a variety of comics adaptations to understand the diverse ways in which filmmakers have drawn on the form
• Apply ideas learned about film adaptations of comics to critical thinking about the relationship between various media

Indicative Module Content:

Indicative readings:

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (New York: HarperPerennial, 1994).

Linda Hutcheon, A Theory of Adaptation (New York: Routledge, 2006).

Liam Burke, The Comic Book Film Adaptation: Exploring Modern Hollywood’s Leading Genre (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015).

Drew Morton, Panel to the Screen: Style, American Film, and Comic Books during the Blockbuster Era (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2017).

Blair Davis, Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2017).

Dru Jeffries, Comic Book Film Style: Cinema at 24 Panels per Second (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017).

Ian Gordon, Film and Comic Books (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007).

Jared Gardner, Projections: Comics and the History of Twenty-First-Century Storytelling (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020).

Indicative screenings:

Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, 2007)
American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, 2003)
A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001)
Popeye (Robert Altman, 1980)
Hulk (Ang Lee, 2003)
Iron Man (Jon Favreau, 2008)

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

12

Tutorial

12

Laboratories

24

Specified Learning Activities

25

Autonomous Student Learning

30

Total

103


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures, screenings, tutorials.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Sequence Analysis (1000 words approx) Week 6 Graded No
30
No
Assignment(Including Essay): Final Essay (approx 2000 words)/Creative Option with 500-word exegesis Week 14 Graded No
60
No
Reflective Assignment: Learning journal, to be completed each week but due by trimester end. Week 14 Pass/Fail Grade Scale No
10
No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Name Role
Dr Max Bledstein Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Janice Deitner Tutor
Miss Ciara Whelan Tutor

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 09:00 - 09:50
Autumn Tutorial Offering 2 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 12:00 - 12:50
Autumn Tutorial Offering 3 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 13:00 - 13:50
Autumn Film Screening Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Tues 09:00 - 11:50
Autumn Film Screening Offering 2 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Tues 12:00 - 14:50