MA in Film Studies

*Please note that the MA in Film Studies is currently being restructured and will not go ahead in the 24/25 academic season*

About the MA:

On the MA in Film Studies in UCD students analyse media from within and beyond the canon in a variety of genres, periods and forms. We focus on media history and critical studies with an emphasis on issues of gender, class, race/ethnicity, consumerism and citizenship and set the analysis of media within national, international and transnational contexts. Although teaching ranges widely across American, Irish, and European media, faculty research is particularly concentrated in the areas of contemporary film and television and their interrelation, representations of gender, and celebrity studies.

 

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Diane Negra is Professor of Film Studies and Screen Culture.  

A member of the Royal Irish Academy, she is the author, editor or co-editor of ten books in the fields of media, gender and cultural studies. Her current projects include a monograph on Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt and two edited collections: Imagining “We” in the Age of “I:” Romance and Social Bonding in Contemporary Culture and Feminazis, Social Justice Warriors, and White Feminists: Representing Feminists and Feminism as “Other.” She serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Television and New Media and is Chair of the Irish Fulbright Commission.  

 

 

Jorie Lagerwey is Head of Film Studies and Associate Professor in Television Studies in UCD's School of English, Drama, Film and Creative Writing. 

She is the author, with Taylor Nygaard, of Horrible White People: Gender, Genre, and TV's Precarious Whiteness (NYU 2020), which analyses functions and representations of whiteness in transatlantic TV comedy. Her current projects include Single Lives: Modern Women in Literature, Culture and Film, a collection of essays she is co-editing with Katherine Fama. Lagerwey is also author of Postfeminist Celebrity and Motherhood: Brand Mom (Routledge 2016). Dr. Lagerwey's primary research interests are in the representations of gender and race on television and other digital media; TV genre; discourses of quality on TV and online; and celebrity culture.

 

Dr. Harvey O’Brien teaches film studies at University College Dublin. 

He is the author of Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back (Columbia University Press) and The Real Ireland: The Evolution of Ireland in Documentary Film (Manchester University Press). He has contributed to numerous international journals and edited volumes, including the Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and TelevisionCineasteEire-Ireland, and Film and Film Culture, writing on diverse interdisciplinary topics including Irish cinema, animation, horror, neo-Victorian studies, trash culture, literary adaptation, and documentary. He teaches early and silent cinema, documentary film, action adventure, animation, musicals, and general introductory courses.

 

Dr. Anthony P. McIntyre teaches film and media at University College Dublin. 

He is co-editor of The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness (Routledge, 2017) and has published widely in scholarly edited collections and journals. He is author of Transnationalism, Diaspora and Regionality in 21st Century Irish Popular Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). His research interests include 21st century media representations of masculinity, contemporary Irish popular culture and Independent Film and Television.  

 

 

MA Full Time:

Core Modules:

FS40040 Media Theory and Culture (10 Credits) Autumn Semester

FS40170 Research Methodology (5 Credits) Spring Semester

FS40180 Thesis (45 Credits), 15,000 words Spring/Summer Semester

The above core modules comprise 60 credits of the 90 needed for successful completion of the MA in Film Studies. Students take three additional option modules over the course of the Autumn and Spring semesters. These option modules differ year on year, but a sample offering is indicated below:

FS40040 Early and Silent Cinema

FS40060 Contemporary Irish Film and Television

FS40240 Chick Flicks: Women and Hollywood Storytelling

FS40270 Stardom, Celebrity and Media Culture

FS40350 Genealogies of Quality Television

  • On completion of this programme students will have: acquired an advanced understanding of film and television from within and beyond the canon in a variety of genres, periods and forms.
  • built on their undergraduate work through a more advanced and specialized analysis of media forms, histories and cultures.
  • acquired critical media literacy skills and put these into use in the writing of essays and in the generation and seeing through to completion of an original, advanced research project.
  • acquired transferable analytical and practical skills, which will be of benefit in whatever career path they may choose.
  • acquired advanced critical literacy in relation to media as a “life skill” that fosters more reflective, engaged citizenship.

On completion of this programme students will have:

  • Acquired an advanced understanding of film and television from within and beyond the canon in a variety of genres, periods and forms.
  • Acquired advanced critical literacy in relation to media as a “life skill” that fosters more reflective, engaged citizenship.
  • Acquired critical media literacy skills and put these into use in the writing of essays and in the generation and seeing through to completion of an original, advanced research project.
  • Acquired transferable analytical and practical skills, which will be of benefit in whatever career path they may choose.
  • Built on their undergraduate work through a more advanced and specialized analysis of media forms, histories and cultures.

Typical full-time MA study would usually entail between two and three days on campus during the teaching semesters of Autumn and Spring.

 

MA Part Time

FS40040 Media Theory and Culture (10 Credits) Autumn Semester YEAR ONE

FS40170 Research Methodology (5 Credits) Spring Semester YEAR TWO

FS40180 Thesis (45 Credits), 15,000 words Spring/Summer Semester YEAR TWO

As with the full time MA in Film Studies, the above core modules comprise 60 credits of the 90 needed for successful completion of the MA in Film Studies. The part-time course ends with the submission of the thesis at the end of the Summer semester of the second year of study. Students take three additional option modules over the course of the two years of the part-time course. (See sample list of modules above.) Students can choose to take these whenever suits their schedule. A common choice is for part-time students to focus solely on the FS40040 Media Theory and Culture core module in the Autumn semester of the first year of study, and take one option course for the following Spring, Autumn, and Spring (year two) semesters over the two years.

Typical part-time MA study would usually entail between one and two days on campus during the teaching semesters of Autumn and Spring (depending on module choice).

 

 

The Film Department at UCD have been involved in a number of research projects that are recent or ongoing. A project on The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness involving Dr Anthony McIntyre and Professor Diane Negra resulted in the publication of an edited collection of essays of the same name, as well as numerous critical symposia and conference panels. Dr Lagerwey has an ongoing research project on Single Lives: Modern Women in Literature, Culture and Film with a colleague in the English Department at UCD. A new project on Architecture and Narrative is currently being developed. Members of the Film Department at UCD are a central part of the prestigious journal Television & New Media with Professor Diane Negra serving as the current Co-Editor-in-Chief and Dr. Anthony McIntyre the book reviews editor.

Shannon Lawlor

MA 2016

The MA in Film Studies in UCD was an outstanding opportunity to explore and develop my passion for film and media in an academic setting. I found the diversity of the topics covered in this programme vital to my understanding of film. The modules offered helped to hone my analytic skills, while independent research allowed me to apply these skills to my own areas of interest. I found the support offered at UCD, from the staff to the library resources, invaluable in this endeavor and extremely accessible to students from a variety of backgrounds. With UCD being one of the most welcoming campuses in Ireland, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the MA and have no regrets about my time spent there. Doing this MA programme fostered my interest in this field and I now hope to pursue a PhD in film at UCD. I am extremely grateful for the chance to study what I love, and this is exactly what this MA offered me.

 

Ryan Dorrian

MA 2018

After completing an undergraduate degree in UCD, I had a desire to further my academic pursuits through the university’s MA in Film Studies. The course offers a variety of diverse modules, which allowed my classmates and I to examine a range of screen media, through a multitude of academic frameworks and historical contexts. In addition to the coursework that is assigned in the core and optional modules, I was provided the opportunity to pursue my own research interests through the thesis component of the course. This independent learning is facilitated through the guidance of the department’s knowledgeable lecturers, who constructively mentor students through the process. I able to develop my own research topics through a diverse and vast array of academic resources offered through the university’s multiple libraries and facilities.

 

 

Facilities and Affiliations

The MA in Film Studies is unique in Ireland in offering our classes in the specially-built small cinema that is the perfect location for an in-depth examination of the moving image. 

As a student on the MA in Film Studies, you will also have year-long access to the Irish Film Institute library and archives, enabling greater opportunity to research topics of national significance. In recent years the MA in Film has also invited filmmakers to provide exclusive screenings and discuss their work, something our students have found particularly rewarding.

 

Further Information:

For application information and academic queries, please contact Film & Drama Studies Administrator Joanne Dalton.