MCS 520: Topics in Media
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MCS 520: Topics in Media: Complex Narrative
Course Description:
In this Topics in Media Studies course, we will examine the changing dynamics of narrative form as it has
been seen on television, in film, in video games, and in literature. We focus most directly on long-form
storytelling which is endemic to serialized narratives. We will look at narrative form and learn how
elements in a narrative function to tell stories and communicate culture. Using readings and screenings to
demonstrate narrative characteristics, we will analyze the development of complex narrative and
hypothesize what the future of narrative will look like.
Course Rationale:
This course critically examines how narrative exists in different forms on different media, focusing most
directly on the way it becomes serialized. Serial entertainment supports expansive narratives and
franchises. These types of stories typically resist closure and focus instead on the pleasure of the moment;
yet they also embrace extended stories that span across the decades. Some narratives have survived
onscreen for decades. Today, the transmediation of media content across different technologies increases
not only the aesthetic pleasures, but also the economic impetus for long-form media.
In this course, therefore, we will look at long-form, complex narrative, and note how it comments on
contemporary issues in our culture. We will analyze narratives in both written and visual formats. We will
look at narrative theory, from the earliest Aristotelian narrative structure to today’s multi-linear narrative
framework. Finally we arrive at contemporary media texts which comment upon our current cultural
climate. Students will view media that challenge their concepts of narrative, of genre, and of the world.
Course Goals:
There are a number of goals I hope we will accomplish in this course. The first is informational: when this
course is completed, everyone should have an understanding of how narrative is constructed and what its
role can be in media history. The second goal is more critical: when this course is completed, everyone
should be able to experience a narrative with a keen eye and a distanced intellectual curiosity. Finally, we
should all be able to identify the developments in narrative theory and genre through different media.
Course Objectives:
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Critique methods of narrative construction
2) Demonstrate an understanding of narrative theory
3) Compare different narrative strategies
4) Synthesize lessons and readings in a video project
Assigned Readings:
Readings will be available on D2L. In addition, the following materials will be used in this class.
To buy (from Look Barnes and Noble and online stores):
Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. 2nd Ed. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge
Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0521715157
Booth, Paul. Time on TV: Temporal Displacement and Mashup Television. New York: Peter Lang, 2012. ISBN:
978-1433115691
We will also be reading heavily from Jason Mittell’s pre-press manuscript Complex TV, which is available
at: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/complextelevision/. (Mittell, Jason.
Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling, pre-publication edition,
MediaCommons Press, 2012.)
Media to rent/watch/buy/play
Book (available in the Loop bookstore but cheaper online)
MCS 520: Topics in Media
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Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. San Diego: Hardcourt Brace, 1979. ISBN: 978-0156439619
Gaiman, Neil. Sandman, Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes. New York: Vertigo, 1993. ISBN: 978-1401225759
Recommended Book:
Buckland, Warren (ed.). Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema. Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-1405168625
TV (Available on Netflix Instant Streaming or to purchase online)
Torchwood: Children of Earth (BBC, 2010). †
The week of Jan 16-23. I will expect you to watch five day’s worth of Days of Our Lives, either on television,
taped, or online at Hulu.com or NBC.com.
Game (available for Xbox or via Steam for PC or Mac)
Portal (Valve, 2007).
Film (available online for rent or purchase; also available at the DePaul Library or on D2L)
Southland Tales (Universal Pictures, 2006). †
Adaptaion (Columbia Pictures, 2002).* †
Primer (ThinkFilm, 2004). *
The Game (PolyGram, 1997). *†
New Media (Available on iTunes, DVD, or for rent)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog (Mutant Enemy, 2008).†
* All texts marked with an asterisk are also available to stream on the course D2L site.
† All texts marked with a cross are available to stream via Netflix subscription.
Class Screenings: on most Fridays, I will hold a screening for the following weeks’ film or TV (subject
to cancelation, with notice). This is not required but may be a good way to experience the movie.
Additionally, students will be expected to watch some of one full series of television or a film series.
Grading and Assignments:
Grades are based on 600 points.
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•
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Paper 1: 100 pts
Paper 2: 100 pts
Conference Presentation: 100 pts
Final Project: 100 pts
Final Paper: 100 pts
Attendance and Participation: 100 pts
Paper 1: Complex Narrative Styles
Your first paper will ask you to compare two different serial narratives. During Week 3 you should screen
all five episodes of Torchwood: Children of Earth and five episodes of Days of Our Lives (available online at
hulu.com or nbc.com). Your first paper, due on Jan 23, will be analyze the narrative strategies used in the
both television series. Conduct a comparative analysis of these two programs in a 2000 word paper.
Specifically, combine your own analysis of the programs with ideas about the forms, audiences, and social
meanings of seriality drawn from both in-class and out-of-class readings. You will be expected to do
original research for this paper. Use your readings as well as class screenings to justify and illustrate your
points. Papers should posted to the D2L dropbox, by 5:45pm on Wednesday, Jan 23. Late papers will not
be accepted. If you have completed this assignment as an undergraduate, please speak to me about new
options.
MCS 520: Topics in Media
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Paper 2: Complex Storytelling across Media:
You will commit to playing through the game Portal by Feb 20. Portal is a fairly short multiplatform game
available for Xbox 360, or on PC/Mac through Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/).
Paper 2 will expect you to discuss the relationship between narrative and gameplay. Compare the
narrative (both the implied narrative and your explicit experience of it) of Portal with the narrative (both
the implied narrative and your explicit experience of it) of one of the previous three screenings (Calvino’s
On a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Sandman V.1, or Adaptation). You should examine the role of the author, the
role of players/characters, the style of narration, and the use of temporality in the narrative. You will be
expected to do original research for this paper. Use your readings as well as class screenings to justify and
illustrate your points. Papers should posted to the D2L dropbox, by 5:45pm on Wednesday, Feb 20. Late
papers will not be accepted.
Final Project/Paper:
For this paper you will be expected to watch or experience a major portion of a complex narrative; either
the first 6-7 episodes (you may watch more) of the first season of a television program, or a series of linked
films, or the first 6 (or so) titles in a Graphic Novel series (note: not individual comic issues, but books).
You should therefore begin work on this paper early. For the Project portion of this assignment, you will
create a short media remix project that changes the overall serialized narrative of the text. You can work
in whatever medium you’d like for this project: literature, video, game, graphic novel, etc. Please check
with me to make sure the medium is appropriate. Specific requirements will vary: video should be
approximately three minutes long, story should be 2000 words, graphic novel should be 10 pages; game
should be 2 levels. You will present your project to the class on Finals day.
The Paper portion of this assignment should do two different things: (1) Compare the seriality and the
episodic qualities of you media text to your media remix version. How did you change the narrative?
What beats, arcs, and serial elements needed to switch (You may find it helpful to read Michael
Newman’s “From Beats to Arcs: Toward a Poetics of Television Narrative” to aid in this portion of the
paper) (2) You should read through the Jason Mittell article “Previously On: Primetime Serials and the
Mechanics of Memory” (available on D2L, or at <http://justtv.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/previouslyon-prime-time-serials-and-the-mechanics-of-memory/>). Analyze your media text in light of Mittell’s
essay. What aspects of viewer ‘memory’ does one have to engage to watch your media text and your
remix project? How does your program and remix project engage viewers?
Paper should be 1500 words, and both are due at 5:45 pm on Mar 20 to D2L’s dropbox.
Conference Presentation:
Each day we will hold a “conference session” in class. The conference session is intended to simulate an
actual academic conference panel. Each panel will consist of 3-4 students, each presenting a work of
original scholarship, based on the screening for the day and an academic reading (found by the student)
about that screening. Students should carefully consider the reading in relation to the screening and the
assigned readings for the day. Using clips from the media text, the student should (1) summarize the main
point of the new reading, (2) create an original argument/thesis that emerges from the literature review
from the day, and (3) find another example that supports that argument/thesis.
You should also turn in an outline of the new reading with your abstract.
You will be able to sign up for the day that you want to give a paper. You should also turn in an abstract
(due the Monday before your conference presentation) that abstracts (300 words) your topic. On the day
of your conference presentation, you will turn in a 1500-word paper, but for your presentation you should
not simply read the paper. Instead, present the research in an interesting and thoughtful manner. You
should use some form of technology to aid your presentation. Conference papers are due by 5:45 pm the
day of the conference.
MCS 520: Topics in Media
Course Schedule
Screening Today
Run Lola Run
Class 01
JAN 09
TOPIC: INTRODUCTION AND NARRATIVE THEORY
Readings Due Today
Abbott Ch 1 and 2
Recommended: Wedel (in Buckland)
SCREENING: FRIDAY, JAN 04, 6PM, LL102
Screening Due Today
Southland Tales
Class 02
JAN 16
TOPIC: COMPLEX NARRATIVES
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Booth Intro
Bordwell Ch 6
Elsaesser: “The Mind-Game Film”
SCREENING: FRIDAY, JAN 11, 6PM, LL102
Screening Due Today
Torchwood Children of
Earth
Days of our Lives
Class 03
JAN 23
TOPIC: TEMPORALITY
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Booth Ch 1
Abbott Ch 3
Mittell: “Narrative Complexity”
Recommended: Barratt (Buckland)
SCREENING: FRIDAY, JAN 18, 6PM, LL102
Paper 1: Complex Narrative Styles
Due 5:45 pm to D2L
Screening Due Today
Calvino: If on a Winter’s
Night a Traveler
Screening Due Today
Gaiman: Sandman: V.1
Screening Due Today
Adaptation
Class 04
JAN 30
TOPIC: NARRATION
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Booth ch 2
Abbott Ch 6
Chatman: “New Point of View”
Recommended: Ghislotti (Buckland)
Class 05
FEB 06
TOPIC: CHARACTER
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Booth ch 3
Abbott Ch 10
Mittell: Character
McCloud: Ch 4
Class 06
FEB 13
TOPIC: AUTHORSHIP AND PARATEXTS
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Abbott Ch 4 and 5
Mittell: Authorship
McCloud: Ch 3
4
MCS 520: Topics in Media
Orlean: “Orchid Fever”
Recommended: Dzialo (in Buckland)
SCREENING: FRIDAY, FEB 08, 6PM, LL102
Screening Due Today
Portal
Due 5:45 pm to D2L
Screening Due Today
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along
Blog
Screening Due Today
Primer
Class 07
FEB 20
TOPIC: GAMES AND STORIES
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Abbott Ch 12
Mittell: “Playing for Plot in the Lost
and Portal Franchises”
Simons, “Narratives, Games, and
Theory”
Paper 2: Complex Storytelling in Games
Class 08
FEB 27
TOPIC: READERSHIP
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Booth ch 5
Abbott ch 7 and 8
Lang: “Status Not Quo”
SCREENING: FRIDAY, FEB 22, 6PM, LL102
Class 09
MAR 06
TOPIC: NEW MEDIA NARRATIVE FORMS
Readings Due Today
Conferences
Booth ch 6
Gendler: “Primer: The Perils and
Paradoxes of Restricted Time
Travel Narration”
Cameron: Ch 1
Recommended: Cameron and Cubit
(in Buckland)
SCREENING: FRIDAY, MAR 01, 6PM, LL102
Class 10
MAR 13
TOPIC: NARRATIVES ACROSS AND BETWEEN MEDIA
Screening Due Today Readings Due Today
Conferences
The Game
Booth ch 7
Abbott ch 9
Mittell: Transmedia Storytelling
SCREENING: FRIDAY, MAR 08, 6PM, LL102
Due 5:45 pm to D2L
Final Exam Period
Mar 20
Final Project/Paper
5
MCS 520: Topics in Media
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. 2nd Ed. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge
Press, 2008.
Booth, Paul. Time on TV: Temporal Displacement and Mashup Television. New York: Peter Lang, 2012.
Bordwell, David. “Narration and Time.” In Narration in the Fiction Film. 74-98. Madison, WI: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1985.
Buckland, Warren (ed.). Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema. Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-1405168625
Cameraon, Allan. “Modular Narratives in Contemporary Cinema.” In Modular Narratives in Contemporary
Cinema. 1-19. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Chatman, Seymour. “New Point of View on Point of View.” In Coming to Terms: The Rhetoric of Narrative in
Fiction and Film. 139-160. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.
Elsaesser: “The Mind-Game Film.” In Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema. 13-41. Ed.
Warren Buckland. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Gendler, Jason. “Primer: The Perils and Paradoxes of Restricted Time Travel Narration.” Nebula 3.4 (Dec
2006): 142-160.
Gray, Jonathan. “Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors.” Show Sold Separately. 81-115. New York:
New York University Press, 2010.
Gray, Jonathan. “Spoiled and Mashed Up: Viewer-Created Paratexts.” Show Sold Separately. 143-174. New
York: New York University Press, 2010.
Lang, Anouk. “‘The Status is Not Quo!’: Persuing Resolution in Web-Disseminated Serial Narrative.”
Narrative 18.3 (Oct 2010): 367-381.
McCloud, Scott. “Blood in the Gutter.” In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. 60-93. New York: Harper
Collins, 1993.
McCloud, Scott. “Time Frames.” In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art.. 94-117. New York: Harper
Collins, 1993.
Mittell, Jason. “Authorship.” In Complex TV:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/complextelevision/authorship/
Mittell, Jason. “Character.” In Complex TV:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/complextelevision/character/
Mittell, Jason. “Comprehension.” In Complex TV:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/complextelevision/comprehension/
Mittell, Jason. “Narrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television.” The Velvet Light Trap 58
(Fall 2006): 29-40.
Mittell, Jason. “Playing for Plot in the Lost and Portal Franchises.” Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game
Culture. 6.1 (2012): 5-13.
Mittell, Jason. “Previously On: Primetime Serials and the Mechanics of Memory.” Just TV. (03 Jul 2009):
http://justtv.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/previously-on-prime-time-serials-and-the-mechanicsof-memory. Also in Grishakova, Marina and Ryan, Marie-Laure, Eds. Intermediality and Storytelling.
Berlin: de Fruyter, 2010.
Mittell, Jason. “Transmedia Storytelling.” In Complex TV:
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/complextelevision/transmedia-storytelling/
Mittell, Jason. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling, pre-publication edition,
MediaCommons Press, 2012.
Newman, Michael. “From Beats to Arcs: Toward a Poetics of Television Narrative.” The Velvet Light Trap
58 (Fall 2006): 15-28.
Orlean, Susan. “Orchid Fever.” The New Yorker. Jan 23, 1995.
http://www.susanorlean.com/articles/orchid_fever.html.
Simons, Jan. “Narratives, Games, and Theory.” Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game
Research 7.1 (Aug 2007). http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/simons