NMC 456 | Course Introduction and Application Information - Department of New Media and Communication

Course Name

Visual Theory

Code	Semester	Theory (hour/week)	Application/Lab (hour/week)	Local Credits	ECTS
NMC 456	Fall/Spring	3	0	3	5

Prerequisites	None
Course Language	English
Course Type	Elective
Course Level	First Cycle
Mode of Delivery	-
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course	Discussion Group Work Q&A Critical feedback Jury Lecture / Presentation
National Occupation Classification	-
Course Coordinator	-
Course Lecturer(s)	Öğr.Gör.Dr. DENİZ CAN TAŞÇI
Assistant(s)	-

Course Objectives	This course is an introduction to theoretical debates in the interdisciplinary field of visual culture. The course engages with the production, reception, appropriation and commodification of images and the ideologies of the visual. The contemporary world is saturated with visual images. This introductory course explores the visual from an interdisciplinary perspective across cultures and in various media. Its objective is to sharpen the gaze of the student by learning to look carefully at the visual world in the past, present, in remote as well as approximate places. Through this course we will define visual theory, communication, explore it’s history and gain insight understanding of visual advertising.
Learning Outcomes	The students who succeeded in this course; Will be able to demonstrate an understanding of key concepts in visual culture. explain theoretical approaches to visual perception; the various attributes and social meanings of the four visual cues. identify and use basic graphic elements helps in the analysis and production of images. Analyze how theoretical debates in visual culture interrogate the gaze across different fields of visuality across local, national and the transnational visual landscapes. Interpret various components and uses for gestalt, constructivism, semiotics and cognitive theories of visual communication. Exemplify the discourses regarding questions of visual culture such as representation, advertisement, art. Explain the influences of movements upon today’s graphic designs with a historical perspective.
Course Description	This course combines theoretical work and its application to images. Students are responsible for the preparation of presentations of each week’s key reading. Each week, we will summarise key points and arguments made by a visual theory scholar on a particular topic (see syllabus) and use examples that relate closely to the text.
Related Sustainable Development Goals

Course Category	Core Courses
	Major Area Courses
	Supportive Courses	X
	Media and Management Skills Courses
	Transferable Skill Courses

Week	Subjects	Related Preparation
1	Course Outline, Introduction and Key Concepts	Course syllabus
2	Fundamental Theoretical Framework: Ferdinand de Saussure, The significance of semiotics in visual culture.	Ferdinand de Saussure, “Course in General Linguistics” Part 1, p.65-79
3	The Multi-layered Meanings of Images: Roland Barthes, Interpreting the world of symbols	Roland Barthes, “The Elements of Semiology”; “The Fashion System”; “Rhetoric of the Image”
4	Power of Media, Technology and Advertising	Marshall McLuhan, In “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man” (The Medium is the Message); Raymond Williams, “Advertising: The Magic System”
5	The Multi-layered Meanings of Images: Roland Barthes, Interpreting the world of symbols	Roland Barthes, “The Elements of Semiology”; “The Fashion System”; “Rhetoric of the Image”
6	Introduction to Marxist Media Theory	Daniel Chandler, “Marxist Media Theory”, Tony Bennett “Theories of the Media, Theories of Society”
7	Production and Reception of Cultural Products	T. Adorno, M. Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry, Enlightenment as Mass Deception”
8	Midterm Week
9	Postmodern Theories Under the Circumstances of Postfordism	Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of the Late Capitalism”
10	The Distinction Between Reality and Simulation	Jean Baudrillard “Simulacra and Simulation"
11	Gender, Identity and Postfeminist Media Culture	Rosalind Gill, “Postfeminist Media Culture, Elements of Sensibility”, Judith Butler, “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire”
12	Psychoanalysis and Advertising Screening: “The Century of the Self” (2002), Adam Curtis	Sigmund Freud “Civilization and its Discontents”
13	Ethics in Visual Communication: Representation, Diversity, and Manipulation	Jacques Rancière “The Emancipated Spectator” Part 4 The Intolerable Image p.83-105, John Berger “Ways of Seeing” Part 7 p.129-155
14	Advertising Discourse, Analyzing Ad Examples	Morris B. Holbrook & Elizabeth Hirschman “The Semiotics of Consumption”
15	Review of the Semester
16	Final Exam

Course Notes/Textbooks

Course in General Linguistics, Ferdinand Saussure, ISBN: 978-0-231-15727-8

Understanding media: the extensions of man, Marshall McLuhan, ISBN: 0-415-25397-7

The Fashion System, Roland Barthes, ISBN: 0-520-07177-8

Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of the Late Capitalism, Frederick Jameson, ISBN: 978-0-86091-537-9

Simulacra and Simulation, Jean Baudrillard, ISBN: 0-472-06521-1

Suggested Readings/Materials

Yapısalcılık, Tahsin Yücel, 4. Baskı ISBN: 978-975-07-2573-9

Göstergeler, Tahsin Yücel, 3. Baskı ISBN: 978-975-07-0609-7

Dilbilimin Temel Kavram ve İlkeleri, Berke Vardar

Poster, M. (2010). McLuhan and the cultural theory of media. MediaTropes, 2(2), 1-18.

Feminine Look: sexuation, spectatorship, subversion, Jeniffer Friedlander, ISBN: 978-0-7914-7296-5

The aesthetic unconscious, Jacques Ranciere, ISBN: 978-0-7456-4644-2

Semester Activities	Number	Weigthing
Participation	1	10
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
Presentation / Jury	1	20
Project	-	-
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exams
Midterm	1	30
Final Exam	1	40
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade	3	60
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade	1	40
Total

Semester Activities	Number	Duration (Hours)	Workload
Theoretical Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours)	16	3	48
Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: '.16.' x total hours)	16		0
Study Hours Out of Class	14	2	28
Field Work			0
Quizzes / Studio Critiques			0
Portfolio			0
Homework / Assignments			0
Presentation / Jury	1	18	18
Project	-	-	0
Seminar / Workshop			0
Oral Exam			0
Midterms	1	24	24
Final Exam	1	32	32
		Total	150

#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	* Contribution Level
#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	1	2	3	4	5
1	To be able to critically discuss and interpret the theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of the discipline of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
2	To be able to critically interpret theoretical debates concerning the relations between the forms, agents, and factors that play a role in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
3	To have the fundamental knowledge and ability to use the technical equipment and software programs required by the new media production processes.	-	-	-	-	-
4	To be able to gather, scrutinize and scientifically investigate data in the processes of production and distribution.	-	-	-	-	-
5	To be able to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.	-	-	-	-	-
6	To be able to take responsibility both individually and as a member of a group to develop solutions to problems encountered in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
7	To be informed about national, regional, and global issues and problems; to be able to generate problem-solving methods depending on the quality of evidence and research, and to acquire the ability to report the conclusions of those methods to the public.	-	-	-	-	-
8	To be able to critically discuss and draw on theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of other disciplines complementing the field of new media and communication studies.	-	-	-	X	-
9	To be able to develop and use knowledge and skills towards personal and social goals in a lifelong process.	-	-	X	-	-
10	To be able to apply social, scientific and professional ethical values in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
11	To be able to collect datain the areas of new media and communication and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1).	-	-	-	-	-
12	To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently.	-	-	-	-	-
13	To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise.	-	-	X	-	-