Conversations: Gender & Film

Catalog description

This 1-credit course will focus on American films that question or rethink gender conventions while exploring complexity in character and story, with special attention paid to tone (a film's attitude toward its content). In our conversations about these films, we'll examine how we navigate disagreements, questions, and differing values; and we'll develop strategies to make these conversations productive. What happens when our responses to story and judgment of character diverge from a film's aims? Films discussed in this class will examine Hollywood conventions that can empower characters (for example, through performance) or limit the messages of a film (for example, in "happy endings"). Students will have the opportunity to grapple with "difficult" texts and portrayals-for instance, the representation of race and community in Do the Right Thing, or characters who are hard to "like" (in, for example Charlize Theron's role in Jason Reitman's Young Adult), or films starring actors with a strong persona (such as the appearance of Benedict Cumberbatch in Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog). Fulfills Core Requirements: Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and Diversity (DIV).