Course Description

At the core of the course is the question how feminism has become a demonized and ridiculed “F-word” in an age when issues of gender and sexuality are at the center of constant, often explosive political debates. These debates often connect media representation and political representation but tend to do so in simplistic ways that bypass or distort decades of sophisticated feminist theory and practice. We will trace back such representations through the decades around case studies that encompass film, video, television and new media practices. The case studies come from the United States and beyond, taking into full account the global interconnectedness of media production and consumption as well as the transnational travel of feminist ideas. The main goal of the course is to evaluate how useful feminist thinking is to understanding the relays between media and political representation; and to develop a lasting critical apparatus to analyzing the politics of gender and sexuality in the media.


Friday, October 11, 2013

Cable Visions-Gay Programming Gay Publics

I must say that I was surprised when I read Freitas' essay "Cable Visions" since I had no knowledge about the fact that gay channels existed. I never followed any American or foreign reality shows or soap operas.
In the culture that I was raised in(Korean culture), being homosexual is something that is considered a taboo. Even if you are one, you are never allowed to come out since you would become the target of hate. There have been some movies in Korea that dealth with homosexual issues but only few have gotten recognition. There was a comedian who came out in Korea, and after that, he was no longer in media business. People shuned him for his identity and was not willing to accept those who are "different." So it was a surprise to see that other cultures even launched channels about these contents.
However, when we watched 'Ellen' in class this week, I really enjoyed how playfully and humorously they depicted the subject while still covering the difficulties that they go through. This type of content would form what Freitas argued about, the community. Would these programs that revolves around this issue but has humor over it work in Korea also?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)