SCRN 288 - Gender and Film

This course will explore how cinema has participated in the construction, deconstruction, and reimagining of gender across its history. We will read examples of early feminist film theory, which argued that Classical Hollywood and other narrative cinemas have long constructed women as "Woman" through its myths, signs, and appeal to the male gaze. We will also study what happens when women, including queer women and women of color, return the gaze and look back. Finally, the course will investigate the films of feminist, queer, and transgender filmmakers and analyze how they have repurposed this technology of gender towards transformative ends. Readings will be primarily theoretical, and screenings will include fiction, documentary, and experimental films, such as Rebecca (1940), Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), Damned If You Don't (1987), Paris Is Burning (1990), The Matrix (1999), Pariah (2011), and Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017).

Prerequisites: SCRN 101 or MCA 101 or permission

Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every other year

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