German 231 –
Screening Gender Prof.
Maggie McCarthy
Spring 2004 Chambers 3150
TR
Chambers 3068 Office Hours: Wednesdays
Screening Gender: Male & Female on
Film
Course Description
A key component of identity,
gender finds a strong foothold in cinematic forms. From the normative to the bizarre, images of
femininity and masculinity abound on film. If current wisdom deems gender more
a cultural construct than strict biological entity, then how do men and women
on film mediate our notions and experience of gender? How do films create normative notions of
gender or, alternately, estrange us from it?
In what ways do films uphold or challenge power relations between men
and women? Throughout the course, we
will consider gender on film not as a mirror of the way things are, but rather
a representation, or a blueprint of
cultural assumptions, anxieties, fantasies and coercions. Our job will be to distill meaning rather than
merely consider how realistic our filmic men and women are. We’ll also examine
the ways we identify – or not – with gender roles and the stars who embody
them. Lastly, by watching
Requirements
First and foremost, students are expected to be prepared, engaged participants in class. This means carefully preparing the readings and watching the films. I expect each student to contribute at least one idea to our class discussion, so you can expect me to call on you during each class. Classes will revolve less around formal lectures than analysis of the films, and our goal throughout is to promote good, original thinking and a strong eye and ear for interpreting film. By the end of the semester I hope that your ideas are our primary focus in class.
Written assignments will take two
forms: essays and electronic responses.
Twice you will write a 250 word response to the assigned film and
reading, send it to me via email so that I can post it to the entire
class. Your response should raise useful
questions, suggest possible issues for class discussion, and offer original
analysis. It will serve as our starting
point in class, so please avoid unconsidered editorializing. Electronic responses are due Sunday
evenings by
During the course of the semester you will write three essays of approximately 3 – 4 pages which offer an original analysis of a film discussed in class. Please refrain from covering material already discussed in class. No secondary readings or internet sources should be used for these essays. Your final research paper of 8 – 10 pages should include a bibliography of at least 5 – 8 sources. See the course schedule for due dates.
Alternately,
anyone with more creative instincts may have other means for absorbing and analyzing
class material. I’m open to suggestions.
Grades
Preparation and class participation 20%
Quizzes 20%
Electronic responses to material 20%
Essays 40%
Film screenings and secondary readings
All films will be on the “viewing shelf” in the library. Viewing rooms are on the second floor and in the basement. No film may leave the library. I would strongly encourage you to watch each film twice since it is much easier to recognize deeper levels of meaning after repeated viewings. Take notes on what you see and think about why things are represented as they are.
You can find course readings each week on my door. Please xerox and return in a timely fashion
for the next student.
Schedule
January 13 Discussion of syllabus
January 15 Introductory lecture on gender and film
January 20 – 22 The
Comfort of Strangers (Paul
Schrader, 1990)
Reading Genders, intro & chapter one
Katherine H. Burkman, “Harold
Pinter’s Death in
Respondents: Betsy & Caroline
January 27 – 29 Mädchen
in Uniform (Leontine
Sagan, 1931)
Reading Genders, chapter two
B. Ruby Rich, “From Repressive
Tolerance to Erotic Liberation: Mädchen
in Uniform
Respondents:
February 3 – 5 The
Man Who Wasn’t There (Joel and
Ethan Coen, 2001)
Reading Genders, Chapter three
Graham Fuller, “Dead Man Walking”
Respondents: Joe & Leah
February 10 – 12 The
Blue Angel ( Josef von
Sternberg, 1930)
Reading Genders, chapter four & conclusion
Judith Mayne, “Marlene Dietrich, The Blue Angel, and Female Performance”
Andrea Weiss, “’A Queer Feeling
When I Look at You’:
Respondents: Susan & Ellen & Caroline & Krystin
FEBRUARY 16 FIRST SHORT ESSAY DUE
February 17 – 19 Vertigo (Alfred
Hitchcock, 1958)
Reading Leland Poague, “Engendering Vertigo”
David Bordwell, “Classic Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and Procedures”
Respondents: Christine
February 24 – 26 A
Question of Silence (Marleen Gorris, 1982)
Reading B. Ruby Rich, “Lady Killers: A Question of Silence”
Kaja Silverman, “Suture”
Respondents: Christine & Tim
March 9– 11 Short
Cuts (Robert Altman,
1993)
Reading Pamela Demory, “”It’s about Seeing ….”: Representations of the Female Body in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and Raymond Carver’s Stories”
Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
Respondents: Krystin & Tim
March 16 – 18 Metropolis (Fritz
Lang, 1927)
Reading Peter Ruppert, “Technology and the Construction of Gender in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis”
Andreas Huyssen, “The Vamp and the Machine: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis”
Guest Lecturer (Thurs): Dr. Neil Lerner
Respondents: Betsy
MARCH 22 SECOND
SHORT ESSAY DUE
March 23 – 25 Nobody
Loves me (Doris
Dörrie, 1994)
Margaret
McCarthy, “Teutonic Water: Effervescent Otherness in Doris Dörire’s Nobody Loves Me”
Sound:
Betsy & Ned; Cinematography:
Joe & Caroline; Editing: Christine
& Tim; Staging: Ellen, Susan
& Leah; Narrative: Courtney,
Will & Krystin
March 30 – April 1 Thelma
and Louise (Ridley
Scott, 1991)
Reading Sharon Willis, “Hardware and Hardbodies, What do Women Want?: A Reading of Thelma and Louise”
Janice R. Welsch, “’Let’s Keep Goin’?”: On the Road with Louise and Thelma”
Respondents: Courtney & Ned; Sound: Joe
& Caroline; Cinematography: Christine
& Tim; Editing: Ellen &
Susan; Staging: Leah & Will; Narrative: Krystin & Betsy
April 6 – 8 Rambo
III (Peter
MacDonald, 1988)
Reading Klaus Theweleit, “Male Bodies and the ‘White Terror’”
Respondents: Leah & Will; Sound: Christine & Tim; Cinematography: Ellen & Susan; Editing: Courtney & Krystin; Staging: Betsy & Ned; Narrative: Joe & Caroline
April 15 The
Big Lebowski (Joel and
Ethan Coen, 1998)
Reading Excerpts
from Gary Taylor, Castration: An
Abbreviated History of Western Manhood
Respondents:
Courtney & Will; Sound: Ellen & Susan; Cinematography: Leah & Krystin Editing: Betsy & Ned; Staging:
Joe & Caroline; Narrative: Christine
& Tim
APRIL 19 THIRD
SHORT ESSAY DUE
April 20 – 22 YOUR CHOICE OF MOVIE
Respondents:
Susan & Tim; Sound: Leah & Courtney; Cinematography: Will & Krystin; Editing: Betsy & Ned; Staging:
Joe & Caroline; Narrative: Christine
& Ellen
April 27 – 29 My
Life in Pink (Alain
Berliner, 1997)
Reading Marjorie Garber, “Clothes Make the Man”
Respondents: Ned; Sound: Will & Krystin; Cinematography: Betsy & Joe; Editing: Caroline & Christine; Staging: Tim, Ellen & Susan; Narrative: Leah & Courtney
May 4 summing
up
MAY 12 FINAL PAPER DUE
Selected Bibliography
Bergfelder, Tim, Erica Carter and Deniz Göktürk, eds. The German Cinema Book.
Cohen, Steven. Masked Men. Masculinity and the Movies in the Fifties.
Cohen, Steven and Ina Rae Hark, eds. Screening the Male. Exploring Masculinities in
Hollywood Cinema.
Doane, Mary Ann. Femmes
Fatales, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis.
Elsaesser, Thomas with Michael Wedel, eds. The BFI Companion to German Cinema.
Frieden, Sandra,
Richard W. McCormick, Vibeke Petersen and Laurie Melissa Vogelsang, eds. Gender and
Garber, Majorie. Vested Interests. Cross-Dressing and Cultural
Anxiety.
Gever, Martha, Pratibha Parmar and John Greyson, eds. Queer Looks. Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Film and Video.
Glover,
David and Cora Kaplan. Genders.
(Required Course
Text)
Hadleigh, Boze. The Lavender Screen. The Gay and Lesbian Film.
Their Stars, Makers, Characters and Critics.
Hanson, Ellis. Out Takes: Essays on Queer Theory and Film.
Hill, John and Pamela Church Gibson, eds. The
Jeffords, Susan. Hard Bodies.
Kirkham, Pat and Janet Thumim, eds. You Tarzan. Masculinity, Movies and Men.
Modleski, Tania. The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and
Feminist Theory.
Pomerance, Murray, ed. Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls. Gender in Film at the End of
the Twentieth Century.
Penley, Constance and Sharon Willis, eds. Male Trouble.
Rich, B. Ruby. Chick Flicks. Theories and Memories of the
Feminist Film Movement.
Russo, Vito. The Celluloid Closet. Homosexuality in the Movies.
Tasker, Yvonne. Spectacular Bodies. Gender, Genre and the
Action Film.
Tasker, Yvonne. Working Girls. Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema.
Willis,