Film, Television, and Sexuality

Film Studies 212 – Lec 002Instructor: Bridget Kies

Spring 2015Office: Curtin 483

Tues/Thurs 10-11:50amEmail:

Room TBAPhone: 773-344-5140

Course Description

This course will look at the relationship between representations of sexuality and American film and television. In particular, we will examine how sexuality and gender expression are often conflated, how “normal” gender and sexuality are depicted on screen, and how throughout the last fifty years various films and television series have upheld or challenged ideals of normativity.

This course is organized into three units, loosely based around moments of social change that also coincide with major changes in the television and film industries. We will begin with the sexual revolution of the 1970s, which coincided with the dawn of the modern LGBT rights movement, and the women’s rights movement and second-wave feminism. We then move into the 1990s, when the rise of cable television led to more provocative images of sex and sexuality on screen, and conclude our semester in the contemporary moment, when new forms of media are challenging film and television’s dominance as forms of entertainment and as the American cultural landscape is changing with breakneck speed. During each unit students will read texts from a variety of disciplines and watch films or episodes of television series relating to a particular time and theme.

Some questions we will consider along the way:

  • What is the relationship between film or television and society? Is what we see on screen today the result of changes in society, or are changes in society the result of what we’ve been exposed to in film and television?
  • Why do certain images of gender and sexuality proliferate in different time periods? What is happening in society and in the television and film industries that results in trends of representation?
  • For whom are depictions of gender and sexuality life in film and television intended? What audiences are being targeted through these images, characters, and stories?

Course Readings

There are no required textbooks for this class. All readings will be posted to D2L. Readings come from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, gender theory, media studies, audience studies, film theory, and television studies.

Screenings

Screenings will include (among others) Midnight Cowboy, The Boys in the Band, Philadelphia, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Transamerica, The Golden Girls, The L Word, Queer as Folk, Seinfeld, and Ellen.