REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN AND FEMINISM IN POPULAR CULTURE

Catalog description

The basic challenge of this course is that it requires the study of two things simultaneously: 'women' and 'women as represented' in popular culture. From the classic object of woman sexed and gendered, feminist study has evolved to also consider woman the subject, the autonomous person with agency within her environment. The course covers much ground: dominant narratives; the often-overlapping contexts of media, politics, morality and religion; the signs inherent in language and imagery; and the power asymmetry and embattled definitions of “woman.” Throughout the course, we employ varied approaches that resist any one right answer, easy dogmatic conclusion or evaluation of the narratives.