Film and Media Studies 220: Identity, Gender, & Media

This introductory-level class explores the relationship between media and multiple forms of “identity.” By critically exploring and deconstructing normative concepts of gender, we shall open critical space to investigate other kinds of identity produced in and through media such as national, religious, ethnic, and class identities. We will focus on contemporary and historically specific examples such as radio and the construction of national identity in the 1920s; television and the production of the domestic housewife in the 1950s; and contemporary marketing techniques and the construction of impossible female bodies. We will bring feminist thought, critical theory, and cultural studies together with specific examples in order to analyze “identity-talk” in film, radio, television, and the Internet. The ultimate goal of this class is to produce an awareness of the different kinds of techniques that bring power and media together to create politically useful identities. Required weekly screenings. Open to first-years, sophomores, and Film and Media Studies majors; others by consent of instructor. May be taken for credit toward the Gender Studies major or minor.