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Listed in: Film and Media Studies, as FAMS-308 | Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies, as SWAG-309
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Amelie E. Hastie (Section 01)
(Offered as BRUS 308, FAMS 308 and SWAG 309) As an artistic and industrial form, film depends on acts of collaboration. Such acts take place at the level of production, whether on a Hollywood lot that might employ hundreds if not thousands of people to make a single film or in an independent artisan’s work in which one primary maker works with the subjects she films. Collaboration is also necessary in the exhibition of films: across the expanses between widescale distribution at multiplexes around the world, art-house and repertory cinemas, and small-scale screenings at galleries or colleges. And then, of course, film invites a response from its viewers; in the words of Modernist novelist and film critic Dorothy Richardson, viewers and films “cooperate” with one another. Drawing on these intrinsic facets of film, this seminar will link film to feminist action, which is itself dependent on collective action. Specifically, we will explore what happens when we link film and feminism historically, analytically, and, for the purposes of our class, through the act of writing.
The subjects of our writing will be women-directed films. Though we will consider some earlier models, our attention will be focused on global artists working in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As we explore their films, our coursework will be divided into three units, which will invariably overlap with and sustain one another. Hence, we will explore writings about film by various feminist “collectives”; we will produce individual essays in a workshop format; and we will collectively produce a special issue of a student-generated journal or database in order to exhibit the work of the students beyond our classroom.
Recommended requisite: A previous FAMS course such as “Film and Writing,” “Introduction to Film Studies,” “Knowing Television,” or “Moving Pictures” would be beneficial but is not required. Open to sophomores. Limited to 18 students. Fall semester. Professor Hastie.
If Overenrolled: Preference given to FAMS pre-majors with previous coursework in FAMS courses.