Frames Films & Femmes Fatales

Catalog description

This course is a critical survey of cinematic works by and about women, with examples drawn from different modes of cinematic expression (mainstream fiction films as well as alternative film and video [including documentaries, experimental, & narrative]) and from different historical periods (from the 1930s to the present). The course deploys feminist approaches to film criticism and applies these approaches to cinematic representations of women. Films illustrating particular genres, as well as feminist and ''women's'' films, are discussed and critiqued. We will consider the role of film in our understandings of sex, gender, and sexuality, as well as race, class, and disability. Through discussions and writing, we will work to discern relevant social, political, ideological, and aesthetic concepts in the media we examine. We will look at contemporary Hollywood and independent cinema, US and some international films by both established and emerging filmmakers.