Courses

Courses

Spring 2008 Courses

  • Visit Bearings to search for courses by title, instructor, department, and more.
  • Login to Blackboard. Instructional materials are available on a course-by-course basis.
019. Femmes Fatales, Lady Killers, and Other Dangerous Women
Aviva Briefel T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
Explores a popular cinematic image: the dangerous—and sometimes deadly—woman. By analyzing a range of films from classical Hollywood cinema to the present day, explores the various forms that this female figure assumes: the femme fatale, the jealous or vindictive woman, the murderous lesbian, the revenge seeker, etc. In addition to examining the various permutations of the dangerous female, explores why she has attained such a prevalent place on the silver screen. What is so seductive about the deadly woman? Also introduces students to film criticism. Films may include Basic Instinct, Carrie, Eve’s Bayou, Fatal Attraction, Gilda, Kill Bill, Mildred Pierce, Rebecca, and Thelma and Louise.

020. Lesbian Personae
Peter Coviello T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55
A study of the varied representations of same-sex desire between women across a range of twentieth-century novels and films. Concerned with questions of the visibility, and invisibility, of lesbian life; of the contours of lesbian childhood and adolescence; of the forms of difference between and among lesbians; and of the tensions, as well as the affinities, that mark relations between queer women and queer men. Authors may include Nella Larsen, Willa Cather, Carson McCullers, Ann Bannon, and others.

253. Constructions of the Body
Susan Bell M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Explores the body as a reflection and construction of language, a source of metaphor, and a political and social “space.” Considers historical and cross-cultural studies about men’s and women’s bodies, sexuality, gender, and power. Throughout, draws from and compares theories of the body in sociology, women’s studies, and gay and lesbian studies.

256. Literary and Cultural Production during the Cold War
Celeste Goodridge W 1:00 - 3:55
Interdisciplinary examination of literary texts by Truman Capote, Salinger, Plath, Patricia Highsmith, Tennesee Williams, Baldwin and Mary McCarthy in conjunction with cultural representations of the period (in magazines, film, the construction of icons, visual art, and photography), focusing on how “high” and “low” forms of cultural production construct, reflect, and subvert the dominant ideologies associated with cold-war America. Research projects are required, along with critical essays. Note: This course fulfills the literature of the Americas requirement for English majors.

257. Classic Twentieth-Century LGBT Cultural Texts
Guy Foster T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55
Analyzes some of the most enduring, and in some cases infamous, lesbigay and transgendered cultural texts of the twentieth century. Whether authored by avowed LGBT authors or by non-LGBT cultural producers, such works reflect some of the specific challenges that U.S. and European writers and others have continued to face in depicting portrayals of same-sex identities and desires that seek to reject totalizing narratives of pathology and criminalization. Possible texts include: The Well of Loneliness, Death in Venice, Giovanni’s Room, The Boys in the Band, The Front Runner, Stone Butch Blues, Hitchcock’s Rope, The Children’s Hour, “Will and Grace,” and “Six Feet Under.” Note: This course fulfills the literature of the Americas requirement for English majors.

310. Gay and Lesbian Cinema
Patricia Welsch T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55
Considers both mainstream and independent films made by or about gays and lesbians. Four intensive special topics each semester, which may include classic Hollywood’s stereotypes and euphemisms; the power of the box office; coming of age and coming out; the social problem film; key figures; writing history through film; queer theory and queer aesthetics; revelation and revaluations of film over time; autobiography and documentary; the AIDS imperative. Writing intensive; attendance at evening film screenings is required.

390. Robots, Vamps, and Whores: Women in German Culture and Society, 1880-1989
Jill Smith T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25
An examination of gender roles and female sexuality as central controversies of modern German culture. Analyzing nineteenth- and twentieth-century artifacts (works of literature, films, and paintings) from four distinct periods in German history—the fin-de-siècle, the Roaring 20s, the Nazi era, and divided Germany—the course compares historical and artistic representations of women, particularly those women who push the boundaries of normative sexual and social behavior. Uses a variety of texts to discuss such diverse social phenomena and contested territory as the women’s movement/feminism, morality crusades, sexology, prostitution, marriage reform, abortion and lesbianism. Frequent short writings, several critical interpretive essays, and a final project based upon visual images of women spanning the time periods discussed are required.