The Body in Cinema

Catalog description

The human body is one of the most over-analyzed and simultaneously overlooked elements on cinematic screens. In this class, we will interrogate how cinematic works frame human bodies as either central objects of the spectators gaze—allowing us to scrutinize their material presence in the film world as well as on the film strip—or as symbolic entities charged with poetic, political, cultural, and medical meanings that far exceed the body's existence as sentient flesh. We will debate how attributions such as normal/abnormal, desirable/disgusting, beautiful/ugly, or sick/healthy inform, alter, and trouble our perception of bodies in cinema, and consider how such dynamics influence the broader dimensions of human experience and interaction. Four dominant themes guide our approach to (re-)presentations of bodies on screen: monstrosity, discipline (or lack thereof), sexuality, and machinery. We will fluctuate among the earliest motion picture recordings, experimental/alternative cinemas, and contemporary film as represented by works such as Get Out (2017), Black Swan (2010), and Barbie (2023). Working comparatively, we will discuss the different stakes at play in cinema's treatment of bodies, while the readings will provide historical context and multi-disciplinary theoretical frameworks that will aid in developing varied, inclusive, and critical perspectives on the place and use of human bodies in film representation and entertainment history more broadly.