LGBTQIA+ Film: Cinema Against the Grain

Catalog description

In the archaic sense of the word, "queer" means to be outside of what society directs, to be against the grain. The verb "to queer" suggests the act of reorganizing what is organized; questioning our world and exploring other possible ways of being; reshaping the structures that shape us. In this class, "queer identity" and "queering" are necessarily tied up with one another when discussing lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual etc. film and identity in film and film history. We will look at queerness in early film history, representation in Hollywood and popular culture, documentary processes, experimental film, and contemporary cinema, media art, queer utopia, and queerness it intersects with disability, race, and transnationality. We will acknowledge that, as technological and cinematic conventions are invented and change over time, and as cinema sexuality, both are appropriated by the status quo, how "queers" have been represented changes across locales and centuries. Emphasis will be put on considering on whose terms queer cinema is made and exposing students to the cinematic voices that pave the way for dialogue on their own terms, summoning more just possible futures through cinematic practice. Readings in literature, poetry, film criticism, and theory compliment short and feature films and historical and contemporary media objects. In response to the readings and films, students will be asked to write one short paper and one long paper. Additionally, in small groups, students will present on two readings to the class and facilitate a short discusssion.