Reference no: EM132943785 , Length: 3000 Words
COMM320 MEDIA, CULTURE AND THE CITY - University of Liverpool
Select ONE topic from the following list of questions. If you are not entirely clear about any of the questions, or you wish to interpret any in a particular way but are not sure whether it adequately meets the requirements of the assessment, please consult with the module leader before starting the essay.
1) In his essay ‘Walking in the City', Michel de Certeau makes the distinction between ‘geometric space' and ‘anthropological space'. Drawing on the work of both de Certeau and Henri Lefebvre discuss what you understand by these terms and how they inform different perspectives on the mediation of cities.
2) To what extent is the flâneuse an ‘invisible' presence in cities? Discuss with reference to representations of gendered space in media representations of cities.
3) How might an ‘aesthetic of authenticity' in media representations of LGBT spaces in cities have positive and/or negative impacts on the ‘real' places and locations?
4) Drawing on discussions around ideas of ‘non place', critically examine the impact of digital media in contributing to and/or challenging a sense of urban ‘placelessness'.
5) In what ways are cities cosmopolitan? Discuss with reference to Myria Georgiou's concepts of neoliberal and vernacular cosmopolitanism.
6) Cinematic representations of future cities as utopias and dystopias reflect contemporary projections of hope and fear. Discuss.
7) Critically examine the role of creativity and the cultural industries in the economic development of cities, focusing on city branding and place-marketing discourses.
8) Writing on the subject of film and media tourism, Rodanthi Tzanelli suggests that ‘there is a danger that tourist consumption of simulatory landscape and cultures will overwrite specific histories of actual places and cultures' (2004: 38). Prompted by this comment, and focusing on specific examples, critically evaluate the benefits and/or drawbacks of branding locations as sites of film-related tourism.
9) To what extent do urban screens and ambient media contribute to processes of urban place- making and the qualitative experience of everyday urban spaces?
10) Smart cities create dumb citizens. Discuss