120134 AR Advanced Cultural Studies Course (426) = Cultural/Media Studies 1/2 (Cultural/Media Studies) (2009S)

This course examines key issues related to the cultural representations of "masculinity and femininity" at the intersections of race, ethnicity, and sexuality within popular culture and mass media. Its focus is on gendered constructions, and, more specifically, on the various mechanisms by which the ideas "masculine" and "feminine" have come to be presented - and indeed appear to us - natural and unchanging. It is generally recognized that medial practices (visual and textual) condone, contribute to, resist, or subvert the cultural construction of gender stereotypes. Taking our point of departure in post/structural understandings of language and signs and the "linguistic turn" in cultural theory (St.Hall), we move from constructivist to deconstructivist positions and from performative conceptions of gender (J.Butler) to gendered performances. Given that visual media produce meaning in written languages as well as in "nonverbal codes, such as the visual and auditory languages of film and TV" (Kellner), we clarify theoretical, methodological issues involved in the shift from textual towards pictorial and visual analysis (R.Stam). Over the course of the semester we explore gender and racial stereotypes, gender bending, and transgression of gender hierarchy by engaging with a variety of media texts and sources (film, television, print/news media, magazines, internet). There will be screenings, clips, etc. in class that may include - but are not restricted to - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons, Abu Ghraib, Slash-fanfiction, Word Girl, advertisements.