MA Media Studies - Film

Course Code : Film 269Course Title : Cinema, Gender and Other IdentitiesCourse Description : An analysis of the representations of gender and other identities in

cinema.Prerequisite : noneCourse Credit : 3 units

Course Objectives : By the end of the course, the students should be able to:1. analyze the definitions and frameworks in studying gender

and other identities,2. closely examine the themes, styles, discourses, and issues in

the cinematic representations of women, LGBTQI individuals and community, race, class, ethnicity, and religion, and

3. critically apply the frameworks of analysis in their own area of study.

Instructor : Rolando B. Tolentinorolando.tolentino@gmail.com

Schedule : Wednesday, 5-8 pm, Second Semester, AY 2012-13

Course Outline :

I. Orientation, Expectation, Class Requirements (1 week)

II. Definitions and Frameworks (1 week)

A. Sex, Gender, and SexualityB. Cultural Categories of Identity FormationC. Identities, Subjectivity, Subjectification, SubjectionD. The Politics of Representation in Cinema and Media

Readings:

Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” Illuminations (New York: Schocken Books, 1968, pdf attached)

Douglas Kellner, Media and Culture (London: Routledge, 1995, pdf attached)

Neferti Tadiar, Fantasy-Production: Sexual Economies and Other Philippine Consequences for the New World Order (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila U P, 2004, buy your own copy)

Film Screenings:

Ang Tatay kong Nanay (Lino Brocka, 1978)Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001)Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (Auraeus Solito, 2005)

III. Formation of the Self: Western Psychoanalysis and Alternative Psychologies (2 weeks)

A. Psychology and Feminism: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jacques LacanB. Filipino PsychologyC. The Issue of ClassD. OrientalismE. Colonizer and Colonized

Readings:

Arnold Molina Azurin, Reinventing the Filipino: Sense of Being and Becoming (Quezon City: University of the Philippines P, 1993, buy your own copy)

Jacques Lacan, Escrits (New York: W.W. Norton, 2006, pdf attached)

Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979, pdf attached)

-----, “Orientalism Reconsidered” (pdf attached).

Fernando Solanas and Octavio Gettino, “Towards a Third Cinema,” Movies and Methods (Berkeley: U of California P, 1976), 44-64 (CMC Media Library Reserve Section)

Film Screening:

The Hour of the Furnaces (Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas, 1968)

IV. Feminisms and the Woman/Women’s Question (1 week)

A. Historical Development of Western FeminismsB. Socialist FeminismC. Third World FeminismD. National Democratic Feminism

Readings:

Angela McRobbie, The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture, and Social Change (Los Angeles: Sage, 2009, pdf attached)

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversions of Identity (New York: Routledge, 2006, UPD Main Library)

Claire Johnston, “Women’s Cinema as Counter-Cinema,” Movies and Methods (Berkeley: U of California P, 1976), 208-217 (CMC Media Library Reserve Section)

-----, “Towards a Feminist Film Practice: Some Theses,” Movies and Methods (Berkeley: U of California P, 1976), 315-326 (CMC Media Library Reserve Section)

Chandra Mohanty, Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, especially “Introduction,” “Under Western Eyes,” (Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1991)

Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” “Afterthoughts on ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’,” Visual and Other Pleasures (Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1989), 14-26, 29-38.

Slavoj Zizek, Enjoy your symptom: Jacques Lacan and Hollywood (London: Routledge, 1992, pdf attached)

Film Screenings:

Khush (Pratibha Parmar, 1991)Bata Bata Paano Ka Ginawa? (Chito Roño, 1998)Beloved (Jonathan Demme, 1998)Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)Hable con Ella (Pedro Almodovar, 2002)

V. Queer Identities and Resistance

A. Gender Discourses: Gays, LesbiansB. Epistemology of the ClosetC. Queer Politics and Limits of Resistance

Readings:

Richard Dyer, The Matter of Images: Essays in Representations (London: Routledge, 2002, CMC Library)

Neil Garcia, Philippine Gay Culture (Quezon City: U of the Philippines P, n.d., Main Lib)

Martin Manalansan, Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila U P, 2006 (CMC Library or buy your own copy)

Susan Sontag, “Notes on Camp” (1964, pdf attached)

Special Issue on Queer Media and Representations, Plaridel: A Philippine Journal of Communication, Media and Society 9:2 (Aug 2012, copy can be bought at the Office of Research and Publication, 2f of Plaridel Hall)

Film Screenings:

Temptation Island (Joey Gosiengfiao, 1980)T-Bird at Ako (Danny Zialcita, 1982)The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992)Boys Don’t Cry (Kimberly Peirce, 1999)Saving Face (Alice Wu, 2004)Transamerica (Duncan Tucker, 2005)

VI. Identity Politics: Race, Class, Ethnicity, Religion, and Other Identities (3 weeks)

A. Representations of Race, Class, Ethnicity, Religion in CinemaB. Masculine Studies and CinemaC. Diasporic CinemaD. Counter-cinema

Readings:

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (New York: Verso, 1996, pdf attached)

A&F Catalog, text by Slavoj Zizek (2003, pdf attached)

Jonathan Beller, Acquiring Eyes (pdf attached)

Joel David, issue editor, Forum Kritika: A Closer Look at Manila by Night, Kritika Kultura 19 (2012), http://kritikakultura.ateneo.net/issue/no-19 (for download of full issue)

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Mask (New York: Grove Press, 1967, Main Lib and CAL Lib)

Dwight A. McBride, “Why I hate Abercrombie and Fitch,” Why I hate Abercrombie and Fitch (New York: New York U P, 2005), 59-87 (pdf attached)

Todd W. Reeser, Masculinities in Theory (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, CMC Library Reserve Section)

Benito Vergara, Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th Century Philippines (Quezon City: U of the Philippines P, 1995, buy your own copy)

Film Screenings:

Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim (Lino Brocka, 1985)Bend It Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2002)

Course Requirements:

Class Participation: Attendance and punctuality, recitation, short papers 40 %

Midterm Exam 20 %

Seminar Paper 40 %

Passing Mark is 60 %.

Attendance: 1. Plagiarism and other forms of intellectual dishonesty will not be tolerated in class, and will be dealt with according to College and University rules.

2. 3.5 absences mean a failing grade, unless student drops from course; late means .5 absence.

Course References :

1. Anneke, Smelik (2001). And the mirror cracked: Feminist cinema and film theory. Palgrave Macmillan.

2. Beemyn, Brett & MickeyEliason (Eds.) (1996). Queer studies: A lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender anthology. NY: NYU Press.

3. Benshoff , Harry M. and Sean Griffin (Eds.) (2004). Queer cinema, the film reader. In Focus: Routledge Film Readers.

4. Creed, Barbara (1993). The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, feminism, psychoanalysis.5. Evasco, Eugene, Roselle Pineda, & Rommel Rodriguez (Eds.) (2003). Tabi-tabi sa

pagsasantabi: kritikal na talang mga lesbiana at bakla sa sining, kultura at wika. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

6. Garcia, J Neil C. (2008). Philippine gay culture, 2nd Ed.Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

7. Grossman, Andrew (2001). Queer Asian cinema: shadows in the shade. Routledge.8. Gutierrez, Jose III (2008). Images of the mother in Lino Brocka films: 1970-1991.

Plaridel: A journal of Philippine communication, media, and society. August 2009 issue. Quezon City: CMC ORP.

9. Halberstam, Judith (2005). In a queer time and place. NY: NYU Press.10. Iordanova, Dina (Ed.) (2009). Film festival yearbook 1: the festival circuit. United

Kingdom: St. Andrews Film Studies.11. Iordanova, Dina andRuby Cheung (Eds.) (2010). Film festival yearbook 2: film festivals

and imagined communities. United Kingdom: St. Andrews Film Studies.12. Iordanova, Dina and Ruby Cheung (Eds.) (2011). Film festival yearbook 3: film festivals

and East Asia. United Kingdom: St. Andrews Film Studies.13. Kaplan, E. Ann (Ed.) (1990). Psychoanalysis and cinema. Routledge.14. Kramer, Gary M. (2006). Independent queer cinema: reviews and interviews. Southern

Tier Editions.15. McCabe,Janet (2004). Feminist film studies: Writing the woman into cinema. London:

Wallflower Press.16. Pietropaolo, Laura & Ada Testaferri (Eds.) (1995). Feminisms in the cinema.Indiana

University Press.