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This course addresses the myriad and often conflicting ways that sex and sexuality have been represented throughout the history of Western cinema, with an emphasis upon Hollywood and American independent film.
Sex has been a part of cinema since the earliest days of the medium, and films are ideal texts through which to explore and question how sex and sexuality have been expressed and represented over time. Throughout this course you will be challenged to think about the ways that the (re)presentation of sex on screen might be used to confront, titillate and shock audiences, as well as how film might be used as a mouthpiece for marginalised communities or as a social barometer. You will also be asked to engage with some important movements within cinema studies and the broader study of gender and visual culture, from the development and politics of queer filmmaking, to auteur theory, to the emergence of modern sexuality studies, to debates about the representation of sex and violence. You will develop the ability to critically analyse and discuss sex and sexuality in the cinema, and you will be able to contextualise your analyses within the history and development of Western filmmaking.Topics covered include: pre-Code filmmaking; film censorship and the ‘celluloid closet’; queer cinema and ‘homo pomo’; coming-of-age narratives in teen sex comedies; the mainstreaming of pornography; sexploitation; camp, taste and satire; rape-revenge films; eroticism in body horror films; debates around obscenity in art film; and sex-positivity in 21st century independent filmmaking.Please note: weeks one and three will have three film screenings (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons) and three lecture sessions (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings). Weeks two, four and five will have two film screenings (Monday and Tuesday afternoons) and two lecture sessions (Tuesday and Wednesday mornings). (Image: "Sex therapy" by Max Sparber, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.)
Learning outcomes:Specific knowledge of a range of national cinemas, movements, genres and formsKnowledge of the major theoretical debates and discourses in Cinema StudiesAbility to confidently use and understand a range of conceptual and theoretical terms of the disciplineGrowing ability to test and question ideas and interpretations offered in classAbility to produce a detailed, coherent and persuasive argument Increasing confidence in interpretation, analysis and assessment of a range of films
Either 15 points of CINE at 100 level with a B pass, or30 points of CINE at 100 level, orany 45 points at 100 level, orequivalent preparation with the approval of the course coordinator. RP: CINE101, CINE102, CINE104
CULT214
CINE101, CINE102, CINE104
For further information see Humanities Head of Department
Films (provisional list, in order of teaching): • It Follows (2014) • Madam Satan (1930)• Inside ‘Deep Throat’ (2005)• American Pie (1999)• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)• Velvet Goldmine (1998)• But I’m A Cheerleader (2000)• Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)• Last House on the Left (1972)• Videodrome (1983)• The Piano Teacher (2001)• Shortbus (2006)All readings with be provided on Learn.
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Domestic fee $697.00
International fee $2,913.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
This course will not be offered if fewer than 20 people apply to enrol.
For further information see Humanities .