English 373 R2 SPECIAL TOPICS IN FILM STUDIES, Curry. Lect: 1-2:50 TH; Lab: 1-2:50 TU
TOPIC: Feminism and Film

This course on feminist approaches to film and other mass media will begin by examining the representation of gender differences in classical Hollywood cinema. While we will address to some extent how also newer industrialized media (tv, now the Internet) structure female images, the balance of the course (approximately half of it) will focus on films and videotapes produced over the last 30 years by various women, to evaluate their efforts to create alternative modes of representation.

Throughout, the course will emphasize the relevance of theory to creative practices and the relation of feminist media criticism and production to on-going struggles in the movements to achieve full civil rights and social /interpersonal equality for all women. It will devote special attention to issues of "spectator pleasure" in media consumption, particularly to determining how the works studied address or ignore women of diverse class, race, age and sexual identities as audience members. Extensive readings and active class participation required, midterm, several short and one 10-15 pp. term paper. Prerequisite: one film, communication studies or women's studies course or consent of instructor.

TEXTS: John Berger, et. al., Ways of Seeing (1972); Feminist Film Theory: A Reader ( New York University Press, 1999), Sue Thornham, ed.; extensive course packet with additional essays