Malta’s ill-conceived fascination with the Eurovision has now culminated into a University module which seeks to critically analyse the perplexing song competition that attracts millions of viewers each year.
The module, entitled: Interpreting Music Culture: Multimodality, MTV and the Eurovision, will be on offer as from the upcoming October 2016 University of Malta semester, under the Centre for Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The module takes a total of 28 hours to be completed within a semester, and is assessed through a seminar paper which comprises of 100 per cent of the final grade. It will be lectured by Dr George Cremona and carries a total of four university credits.
In the module description, it is explained that:
“The MTV music channel and the Eurovision Song Contest are the biggest and most followed musical institutions in the world. Millions around the world follow them eagerly and constantly with a very keen interest. Notwithstanding their popularity around the globe, these musical phenomena still seem to be viewed by many as purely entertaining.
“As a response to this, this unit intends to fill a lacuna and explore these music resources and events critically. The unit will initially introduce students to multimodality and its concepts. Through this multimodal framework, students will gradually start analysing these resources critically, interpreting these authentic texts related to these popular events from a critical, historical, psychological, sociological and pedagogical lens.
“The intention of this unit is to introduce students to the concepts of multimodality, and utilize these concepts to analyse the different ways through which texts and resources linked to MTV culture, the Eurovision Song Contest (for example music videos, blogs, ESC website etc.) and other international music events can be critically analysed at various levels.”
Dr Cremona has been reported as saying that the course is intended to prevent students from seeing the contest as purely entertainment, but as “invaluable tools,” as stated by the module description on the University of Malta website, “which one should interpret through a critical lens.”
Many have taken to social media to express their bemusement at the subject being on offer, however modules on popular culture are often placed within liberal arts faculties at universities across the Western world.
The Centre for Liberal Arts and Sciences offers both a diploma and a Bachelor’s degree, with the latter necessitating 180 university credits and a maximum of 80 that can be at introductory level.