Browse Hierarchy COM5042: Picturing a Nation: France and its Image from Marianne to #JesuisCharlie

This module examines how images form the foundation of our understanding of French culture, and of how France understands itself. Students will be introduced to the methodology of visual studies and will be applying it to images of historical and cultural relevance to the French-speaking world, ranging from Marianne as the personification of `national¿ values, through the representation of the colonies in advertising, to the tradition of satire embodied in the magazine 'Charlie Hebdo'. Through these visual analyses, students will consider concepts such as cliché, symbol, and allegory, and reflect on questions of nationhood and cultural identity.