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.


Saturday, November 30, 2013

After seeing the Queerbaiting Lesson,

Growing up in Korean culture, the appearance of queer characters on TV was something that really shocked me when I first came to the states. As I became used to American culture, I thought that America is generally open to queers and that their representation on media proves that.

However, after the lesson on queers in media this week, my thoughts have changed again.
I now see how most of the queer characters in the media are in this 'stereotype' of being the main character's best friend or something along those lines. Now I realize it but I don't think I have ever seen a mainstream show where a queer character was the main character. And for the shows that the main character seems to be gay, like the Razoli show that the group shared in class, they never mention being queer and they never openly state what they really are. The phrase that "gay characters are always the ones being laughed at, not laughed with" struck me and I wondered how I never thought of that and could blindly think that American media treats queer characters equally.

This lesson made me think a lot afterwards, and I think the way I view these characters in media would change from now on. But since I do think that queer representation in media is increasing, I think it would be interesting to see how their role develops in media over time.
Thanks for a great lecture!
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