FMST 350 - Hollywood and the World: Performing Gender and Sexuality Onscreen

Explores the construction and performance of gender and sexuality in and through Hollywood film. Using a variety of critical approaches, the class examines the various ways in which gender and sexual identities are represented and signified onscreen in a variety of films from the silent period through the early twenty-first century. Particular attention is paid to how Hollywood films have historically reproduced and/or questioned contemporary gender roles and sexual identities, and how cultural narratives surrounding masculinity, femininity, sexuality, and queerness have been challenged and/or reaffirmed in Hollywood productions. In addition to close examinations of onscreen performances, generic conventions, technical practices and aesthetic styles in specific films, the class explores various ways in which the spectator’s gender and sexuality have been implicated in film viewing over the course of the twentieth century. Coursework includes required weekly film screenings and writing assignments, analysis papers, and in-class presentations.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: FMST 350L
Prerequisites: FMST 200
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
Liberal Arts CORE: None

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