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.


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Romantic Comedies and The Heartbreak Kid


Representations of women in film have been vital in studying the changes and similarities of how women are viewed in society.  A way in which we can explore the changes and similarities of representations of women in film is to look at a certain genre, and see the changes (or similarities) of representations of women, gender, and sexuality. In my paper I will discuss the genre of romantic comedy, and explore the changes and similarities of the representation of women. This genre, more than others allows us to really see if there has been progress within the way women are portrayed because romantic comedies deeply explores females’ emotions, and journey in finding love.
            A way in which to show the difference or similarities of representations of females is the compare a remake of a film to its original. By doing this, we can see if women are portrayed as more sexualized, confident, desperate, independent, etc. I will thoroughly discuss the film The Heartbreak Kid (1972 version) and compare it to the 2007 remake.  While Newlyweds Lenny and Lila begin on their trip to Miami Beach for their honeymoon, Lenny finds out he didn't know as much about Lila as he thought. Soon annoyed and repulsed by all of Lila's actions, Lenny meets and falls in love with a blonde he met on the beach. It's a story about a man's newlywed becoming the biggest obstacle in his new relationship with Kelly. In the remake, Lila is much more sexualized and grotesque than in the original. I will focus a lot of my paper discussing the differences between how Lila is represented, as well as Kelly. I will also discuss the theme of a man never being fully content with what he has in relation to females. 

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