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.


Monday, October 21, 2013

The Conflict Between Politics and Pleasure


In class today, we touched on the idea of politics and pleasure. It came into the discussion when discussing Girls, as it is sometimes not pleasurable to the audience and arguably only political in the way of showing sexual expression. However, what if a show is pleasurable while also sexist. This brought me back to our Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation debate. As a fan of the show and feminist it’s hard for me to admit (although I completely agree) that it is not a feminist show. As this season unfolds, the male controlled city council board is recalling Leslie. However, this does not make the show less pleasurable. People watch the show for its comedic elements and pleasure. Television is there to entertain people, but also to inform its audiences. Modern Family, has transformed the way people view gay couples, why can’t Parks and Recreation do the same for women? Why does Leslie get recalled? Pleasure in this case overtakes the political aspects of feminism. But does it always have to? 


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