Screen and Cultural Studies is a diverse and dynamic program which explores film and popular media, their history, their evolution, and their ongoing intersection with our everyday lives. The program helps students master the critical tools necessary to gain a sophisticated understanding of the hyper-mediatised, globally interconnected world of the early twenty-first century. The courses offered have a unique focus primarily on screen media: Screen Studies focuses on the formal, historical and theoretical analysis of screen media; while Cultural Studies evaluates the wider cultural ramifications.

Subjects offered in the program use innovative teaching techniques and explore key theoretical and interpretive approaches to screen media and contemporary culture. Students are invited to explore a variety of cultures, subcultures, lifestyles, screen media and genres, and will be introduced to new ways of researching, analysing and understanding them. Graduates of Screen and Cultural Studies are equipped with the critical skills necessary for examining contemporary culture and media, giving them an excellent background for a range of employment possibilities.

The program is taught by internationally recognised academics with research interests and expertise in the following areas:

  • Australian film
  • Hollywood and global entertainment cultures, including television studies, theme parks, and transmedia
  • Asian screen cultures especially those of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and Korea
  • Digital media, online and gaming media
  • Everyday lifestyles and commodity cultures
  • Gender, sexuality, feminist theory and psychoanalysis
  • International and avant-garde cinemas, especially Italian and British film
  • Film genres, including horror and gothic cinema, melodrama, animation, and science fiction
  • Documentary and ethnographic cinema
  • Colonialism and postcolonialism
  • Cultural policy
  • Early and pre-cinematic film histories and analysis
  • Human-Animal ethics and animal studies

Undergraduate study

For undergraduate students, the major offers individual subjects on a wide variety of screen media and popular cultures. The subjects explore the history and significance of these different media and cultures, as well as the theories that help make sense of how they relate to power, commerce and lived culture today. Students can choose to focus on Screen Studies or on Cultural Studies, or a combination of both.

Graduate study

There are a range of graduate courses in Screen and Cultural Studies, including:


The MA and PhD are designed for students to develop advanced skills in carrying out independent, sustained and original research by thesis.The coursework degree Master of Arts and Cultural Management (Moving Image), offers Moving Image specialisation in the management of the production, distribution and exhibition of film and new media. It is designed to provide direct engagement with screen industry professionals and to offer the theoretical knowledge and practical experience necessary to work in film culture.