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.


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

We like Leslie Knope, right?

While researching for my class presentation on Mad Women, I read Emily Nussbaum's article in The New Yorker about the "hummingbird." And since we watched the pilot of Parks and Rec earlier this semester I have subsequently caught myself up to season five of the series. I am hooked (and think that Amy Poehler is a goddess) and can't stop watching, laughing, yada yada. But it got me thinking about Leslie Knope and her hummingbird qualities: needy, manipulative, but with only good intentions. She is selfish when it comes to her personal capabilities, such as stating her confidence as a candidate for city council, but she is not a selfish person. She is a wonderful friend and honestly cares and puts in an incredible amount of effort in the lives of those she loves. She's annoying and incessantly perky, yet a woman to root for.

And being a critical studies student doomed for eternity to overanalyze anything I watch, I started to think about what this representation of a woman means. It is positive in some ways (re: Leslie Knope): she's confident, assertive, unafraid to stand up for what she believes in. Yet, it also feels negative: perky, annoying, "idealistic feminist dreamers whose personalities are irritants," says Nussbaum. While the hummingbirds are trying to do well for themselves and those around them, they almost can't be taken seriously. Nussbaum asks near the end of her article about male hummingbirds--which could be seen as Rob Lowe in Parks and Rec but not as strong of a case as Leslie Knope (they also must be protagonists Nussbaum says). It seems almost impossible that a male protagonist would have this personality and personal drive. Is the hummingbird inevitably feminine? And does that make it a bad thing? Are we containing female drive and success within this representation to make it easier to understand and cope with? I think it's too early to say. I'm unsure exactly the implications that arise from the hummingbird archetype but in the meantime will keep watching Parks and Rec and keep you posted.
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