Singapore University of Social Sciences

COM203 aims to provide students with a theoretical and practical knowledge of the way that contemporary media texts ‘work’ – from news reports and photographs to film, television programmes and advertisements – with a special emphasis on the visual element. Students will acquire the ability to use critical tools such as semiotics, genre and narrative analysis that will enable them to unpack the range of possible meanings/interpretations embedded in a wide range of visual texts. This will allow them to understand how meanings really emerge, not from objects themselves, but the way they are represented in the mediated world of today. This course will enable students to decode, analyse and evaluate media messages and explore the role played by media texts in shaping and constructing our sense of self, our understanding of others and the world we live in.