Students at Glasgow University put a German intellectual slant on their sketches of disaster movies and Blind Date. Olga Wojtas sits in the audience at the end-of-term session

Alison Phipps's German students should have good employment prospects, not least as comedians.

They revealed their flair for satire in an end-of-term session of the popular German culture course at Glasgow University, having been given carte blanche to demonstrate their understanding of the theories covered. The students chose to use skits as their vehicle, sending up film and television.

Dr Phipps's normal classes for the junior and senior honours students focus strongly on group work: each group in the class discusses a set question and then feeds back the conclusions in a general debate.

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The students are still in groups for the final session, but the charity shops of Glasgow's west end have been ransacked for outre costumes and props.

Three script-writers are huddled around a table for a brainstorming session on the new movie, surrounded by a TV crew.

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One of the crew scampers round titivating them: "This may be a fly-on-the-wall documentary, but you still have to look good. Just act naturally.'' Danny De Vito and Julia Roberts are rejected as the stars. Attractive youngsters are needed for the posters. Much better to go for Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet.

"I'm thinking disaster, death on a massive scale! I'm thinking we call it ... Pompeii!'' enthuses a writer.

As she outlines the plot (unhappy daughter of rich Roman family on holiday in Pompeii, saved from suicide by lovable young rogue, unsuitable romance conveniently ended by volcanic eruption), the television crew interrupts. They want a crisis, and instruct the writers to hide their coffee mugs.

"It's 3pm,'' says the voice-over. "The writers have run out of coffee and don't know what to do.'' The writers are told to put the mugs back on the table.

"It's 6pm and finally the coffee has arrived. The writers are able to continue their deliberations, but valuable time has been lost.'' Refreshed, the writers envisage possibilities for catastrophe: a rich family holidaying in London as the Black Death approaches...

The feedback from the other groups is appreciative. They say the comedy has helped underline themes such as media manipulation and the pseudo-individualisation of film.

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Another group tackles Marxism, the Frankfurt school criticism of popular culture, German feminism and postmodernism through four contestants undergoing a televised Trial by Humiliation, exaggerating and caricaturing the theories to highlight their inconsistencies.

The third group presents a take-off of Blind Date, starring the heroines of three popular German novels to spoof feminist, post-feminist and radical feminist theories.

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The male selector asks the female contestants what their favourite food is. The first, who has given into the pressures of the consumer society, frequents Wienerwald, Germany's answer to Burger King.

The second prefers a fresh green salad because Cosmo says it revitalises the complexion. "A nice piece of bloody meat!'' snarls the third.

Dr Phipps enthusiastically praises the students' ingenuity.

"You're all quite incredible. If you can parody like this, the knowledge is inside you now. You'll be fine in your exam.'' Some of the students later confide that they chose the course because they thought it would be an easy option.

"It's much more difficult than I thought it would be, but it's much more interesting,'' says one. "I really like to do the work in groups. It's a lot more active than other classes, and you need to think things through for yourself,'' says another.

"It makes you able to say why you like bits of popular culture. Beforehand, you'd just say 'That's a bad film,' but you wouldn't know why.''

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