Freestanding course, Bachelor’s level
30 hp
Malmö daytime 100%
30 August 2021 - 16 January 2022
Full tuition fee: 41000 SEK
Applications open 15 March

About the course

Storytelling is a way of understanding and relating to the world around us. It is a crucial means of communication and most of us do it all the time. In this course you will analyse the stories that surround us in order to get a deeper understanding of how they work and in order to produce better stories yourself. In this course we study a wide range of stories in different media to get a grasp of how narratives are structured. The course introduces narrative theory both generally and in relation to specific media. We also study how specific media, such as literature, film, audio, graphic novels, digital media, inform how stories are constructed and how stories travel between media. You will also produce your own stories, using tools provided by the course. You will be working with creative writing and storyboarding, basic film and audio production and digital media. This is a way to deepen knowledge about stories and storytelling and to acquire practical skills in storytelling in different media.

Course content

In this course we study narrative theory generally, and then narrative theory tied to specific media, such as literature, film, graphic novels, audio and interactive media. We study how different media express narrative structures differently and how a specific medium informs how the narrative is constructed. We also study how different media play with and problematize narration. The course furthermore looks at how stories travel across different media and what happens to a story when it is adapted to a new medium. Students will also produce their own stories, using tools provided by the course. Studens will be invited to work with creative writing and storyboarding, basic film and audio production and digital media.

Syllabus autumn 2021

Admission requirements

Admission requirements

General entry requirements + Civics 1b / 1a1 +1a2. Or: Civics A, English B.

Merit rating is calculated based on Swedish upper secondary grades achieved, according to specific entry requirement 6/A6.

Selection

Swedish upper secondary grades 34%, University credits completed 32%, Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT) 34%

Course literature

The First Module

  • Abbott, Porter. The Cambridge lntroduction to Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • Adaptation Studies: New Challenges, New Directions. Eds. Jørgen Bruhn, Anne Gjelsvik, Eirik Frisvold Hanssen. London: Bloomsbury, 2013. ch 4-5
  • Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. (any edition).
  • Baker, Jo. Longbourn. London: Doubleday, 2013.
  • Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985 Ch 3-7
  • Bourdieu, Pierre. ”The forms of Capital.” In Richardson, J., Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, Westport, CT: Greenwood. 1986. Ch 1.
  • The Fan Fiction Studies Reader. Eds. Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse. Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 2014. Ch 1,3,8
  • Fernandez-Vara, Clara. “Game Spaces Speak Volumes.” 2011. http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/Game-Spaces-Speak-Volumes.pdf
  • Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones’s Diary. London: Picador, 2014. (any edition).
  • Grahame-Smith, Seth. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: the Classic Regency Romance--Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2009.
  • Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge 2006.
  • Jane Austen in Hollywood. Eds. Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield. Lexington: University Press of Centucky, 2001. Ch 2, 4, 5, 6.
  • Kolbas, Dean. Critical Theory and the Literary Canon. Westview Press, 2001. Ch 2-3
  • Pride and Prejudice. Dir Joe Wright. 2005
  • Pride and Prejudice. Dir Simon Langton. 1995
  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Dir. Burr Steers. 2016
  • Storyworlds across media. Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology. Eds. Marie-Laure Ryan and Jan-Noel Thon. Lincoln, London: Universtiy of Nebraska Press, 2014. Ch 1, 12.
  • World Building. Transmedia, Fans, Industries. Ed. Marta Boni. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University press, 2017.

The Second Module

  • Aarseth, Espen. “Narrative Theory of Games,” 2012. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2282365
  • Cohen, Paula Marantz. What Alice Knew. A most Curious Tale of Henry James & Jack the Ripper. Illinois: Sourcebooks Landmark, 2010.
  • Frasca, Gonzalo. “Ludology Meets Narratology: Similitude and difference between (video)games and narrative” 1999. http:www.ludology.org/articles/ludology.htm
  • Greonsteen, Thierry Comics and Narration. Jackson, MS: UP of Mississippi, 2013.
  • Jenkins, Henry. ”Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” First person. New media as story, performance, and game. Ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan. 2003. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2003.
  • Lowndes, Marie Belloc. The Lodger. Any edition.
  • Moore, Alan and Eddie Campbell. From Hell: Being a Melodrama in Sixteen Parts. London: Knockabout Comics, 2000.
  • Rubenhold, Hallie. The Five. The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019
  • Sugden, Philip. The Complete History of Jack the Ripper. London: Robinson, 1994.

Literature is to be selected in consultation with the lecturer/supervisor for the second module of the course.

Additional texts may be included in the course.

Course evaluation

The University provides students who participate in or who have completed a course with the opportunity to make known their experiences and viewpoints with regards to  the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarize the results of course evaluations as well as informing participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures initiated in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

Contact

For more information about the education:

email icon K3student@mau.se

This education is provided by

Faculty of Culture and Society

At the Faculty of Culture and Society, research and education concerns many of the major issues of our time – for example those...

School of Arts and Communication

At the School of Arts and Communication (K3), we work with interdisciplinary education and research in media, culture and...