Ontario College of Art & Design

Course Calendar

COURSE DESCRIPTION

VISC 4B04
Re-presenting Women: Feminist Film and Video (NOT OFFERED IN 2010-2011)
0.50 Credit(s)
Academic Course
Prerequisite: 10 credits, including 1.0 credit of second-year liberal studies (including 0.5 VISC credit).
(NOT OFFERED IN 2010-2011)
This course will review some of the seminal and contemporary writers and theorists in feminist film and video, including the formative work of Teresa DeLauretis, Laura Mulvey, Jane Gaines, Tania Modleski, Jackie Stacey, B Ruby Rich, and others. The course will review essays that employ a variety of methods and theoretical approaches, including critical theory, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism and cultural studies approaches that enable a decidedly feminist critique of film and video. The course will also consider how feminist theories of film, and the aforementioned theoretical directions and methods have been integral to the establishment of "women's film" or feminist forms of filmmaking. Given that the subject matter, the range of subjects, theoretical approaches and topics will be interdisciplinary and diverse, addressing queer, diasporic, "third world", African American and other types of feminist filmmaking and theorizing. Through the semester, the class will look at both dominant and women's cinema. We will consider the representation of woman and the female in dominant Hollywood film forms, such as the "Weepies," Hitchcock, and Film Noir, employing feminist film theory. We will explore attempts at representing or re-presenting women in the work of feminist filmmakers and video artists such as Chantal Akerman, Cheryl Chisholm, Marlene Gorris, Bonnie Klein, Helke Sanders, and Trinh Minh Ha, among others. In so doing, we will consider issues in representing female time/space, female narrative, female relationships and female sexuality. The course will work as a seminar, with students introducing, considering and dialoguing with regard to the essay at hand. Each session will include the screening of a film that speaks to the essay at hand.
Course was last updated June 29, 2010 - 11:26 AM