Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Children's Film and Television
School	Eng, Drama, & Creative Studies
Department	Film and Creative Writing
Module Code	09 31701
Module Lead	Dr Catherine Lester
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Seminar-30 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	Children’s media is often dismissed as simple, of a low quality, unimportant and undeserving of the same rigorous scholarly critique that we grant media ‘for adults’. Yet simultaneously, children’s films and television are looked upon with fondness and nostalgia, and often form a core part of children’s upbringing. For some of us, our scholarly interest in film and television might even be traced back to our childhoods. This module therefore draws attention to this area of film and television studies in order to examine these contradictory perspectives and to treat children’s texts as valuable works worthy of critical attention. Indicative topics may include: address, stardom, representation, history, genre, censorship and theory, which will be considered specifically in relation to children as an audience across the 20th and 21st centuries in an international context, and across a variety of film and television case studies. The module will also examine how children and childhood are represented in media for children and what this reflects about the historical and cultural contexts in which they are made.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Perform close textual analysis on films and/or television programmes for children in order to identify and argue how they address an audience of children. Evaluate key scholarly debates in the study of children’s film and television. Analyse the thematic elements, aesthetics and/or representational politics of children’s films and television, and how these are affected by contexts such as genre, medium, national/historical context and paratexts. Present sustained and persuasive written arguments about children’s film and television expressively and coherently following the norms of the discipline.
Assessment	31701-01 : 1500 word sequence analysis : Coursework (30%) 31701-02 : 2500 word research essay : Coursework (70%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 1,500-word close analysis essay (30%) 2,500 word essay (70%) Reassessment: Failed component only 1,500-word close analysis essay (30%) 2,500 word essay (70%)
Other
Reading List