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Final Thoughts
Well, it has certainly been a momentous semester from my point of view, both for the significant developments in my personal life (i.e. becoming a father) and for the professional significance of my first semester as an assistant professor. As such, it's hard to sum it all up into a closing comment that encapsulates it all. We covered a lot of material, and you all brought a lot in that I hadn't anticipated but that enriched our conversations. The appeal of a narratological approach to media is that you might be able to use it to hone down into the inner workings of all forms of expression, and that's a pretty important part of being a literate consumer of media texts. Hopefully that came across. I'll be honest, though, not everything went as well I had hoped in this course, and I'm certainly going to be rethinking some things when/if I teach Forms of Narrative again.
As far as learning objectives go, I hope that after this course, you've gained a new appreciation for the complexity and power of narrative as an undercurrent of most, if not all, forms of media. Narratology, then, can become another tool in the box for prying apart the layers of meaning in all of the messages and stories we see every day.
I will say that it's been really encouraging to me to see your final projects, because I can tell that you're taking some things I tried to show you and using them in new contexts -- that's really the whole idea of education, if you think about it. Thanks for all of your hard work and patience this semester, and best of luck in the coming year.
Hey Dr. Whalen,
I have to say that this has been one of the more enjoyable courses that I have taken. I have certainly gained some valuable skills and tools for thinking about media in different ways. Many of the things that we have learned about, for example discourse and metalepsis, are things that can reveal a lot about a medium upon investigation, but are seldom discussed in the typical classroom. this class was a great way of getting our feet wet in those areas while at the same time, not getting in over our heads.
One thing that I think mattered in terms of the way the class played out, was the fact that the scope of the class was huge. I feel like there are many different forms of media that can be considered narrative, and to cover them in one semester would be an almost impossible feat. for example,It would probably be appropriate to examine certain pieces of classical music that are meant to tell stories. However, I feel that the course did an excellent job of staying on the course of new and upcoming forms of media that contain narrative.
I can honestly say that i will look back on this class in the years ahead with fond memories and look forward to more engaging classes with you Dr. Whalen.
Terrell
Out of all my classes this past Fall semester, Forms of Narrative was the only class that had all my friends asking what I was doing. It was hard to explain what I was really doing (kind of like it's hard to explain the 295 Literary Studies class) but I tried anyway even if most people stared blankly.
I think Forms of Narrative is one of those classes that you experience and appreciate for experiencing. I know I felt that some things were over my head but I wouldn't have changed any of it.
Thanks, Dr. Whalen. I really appreciated the class. Learned a lot.
-Hannah B.