Gender and genre: masculinity in film
L Naughton
8 points * 4 hours per week * First semester * Clayton * Prerequisites: Either VSA1050, VSA2190 or VA103.06
The subject invites critical engagement with the sexual politics and ideological operations of popular film genres, in particular with representations of masculinity in mainstream, commercial film. Emphasis will be placed upon shifting definitions of masculinity, mostly in recent American cinema. Consideration will be given to the heroic, the mythic and the psychotic identities male protagonists assume in much commercial cinema. The increasing popularity of generic hybrids and the conventions of traditionally masculinised genres such as the buddy film, the road movie, action cinema, and police and detective drama will be examined throughout the course. Expressions of homophobia, homoeroticism and the commodification of the male body will be discussed in relation to recent suspense/thrillers and action films. Issues of race and class in the gangster film will also be addressed. Critiques of the destructive machismo of the 1980s muscle movie will be discussed along with the tendency of more recent commercial film to stage and parody masculinity as excess. The subject will provide students with the opportunity to engage with feminist film theory and psychoanalytic theories which address the construction of sexual difference and male subjectivity through film. Conventions and characteristics of specific genres and their function as commodity within an industrial framework will be discussed: students will be encouraged to consider the psychic, social and industrial structures that have supported screen heroes and the proliferation of the genres they populate.
Assessment
Two essays (2500 words each): 40% each * Test (1 hour): 40%
Preliminary reading
Chapman R and Rutherford J (eds) Male order: Unwrapping masculinity Lawrence and Wishart, 1988
Segal L Slow motion: Changing masculinities, changing men Virago, 1990
Prescribed texts
Cohan S and Hark I (eds) Screening the male: Exploring masculinities in Hollywood cinema Routledge, 1993
Rutherford J Men's silences: Predicaments in masculinity Routledge, 1992
Tasker Y Spectacular bodies: Gender, genre and the action cinema Routledge, 1993
Recommended texts
Clover C J Men, women and chainsaws: Gender in the modern horror film Princeton UP, 1992
Collins J Uncommon cultures: Popular culture and postmodernism Routledge, 1989
Collins J, Radner H and Collins A P (eds) Film theory goes to the movies American Film Institute, 1993