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124642 VO BEd 04.2: Cultural Theories and Popular Culture (2024S)

Queer(ing) Popular Culture

3.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Moodle

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Details

Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 19.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 09.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 16.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 23.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 30.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 07.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 14.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 21.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 28.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 04.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 11.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Tuesday 18.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

From Pose (FX 2018-2021) to Heartstopper (Netflix 2022-ongoing), from Moonlight (Barry Jenkins 2016) to Nanette (Hannah Gadsby 2018), from Frank Ocean to Lil Nas X and Janelle Monáe, today's popular culture would not be the same without queer shows, films, comedy, or music. Yet the relationship between queer and popular culture is complicated, multifaceted, and constantly evolving. Queer individuals and communities have always played a significant role in shaping and contributing to popular culture, but popular culture has not always embraced queer identities and experiences. Nevertheless, queer audiences have perfected subversive strategies that have allowed them to enjoy, live, and contribute to popular culture long before the queer movement of the 1990s or even the Stonewall riots.
In this lecture, students will learn about the vexed relationship between queer identified performers, audiences, and popular culture, as well as the relationship between LGBTIQ+ movements and popular culture. Historically, queer people were often marginalized or negatively represented in mainstream media and popular culture, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and erasing their voices. However, queer performers have navigated popular culture, including film, television, music, literature, and social media, to address queer audiences through codes or other opaque forms, and queer audiences have always found ways to queer popular culture. Some genres of popular culture, such as queercore, riot girl, burlesque, drag, voguing, or musicals, have historically emerged as queer countercultures and subsequently become mainstream.
We will look into different musical, cinematic, and performative genres to discuss how queer individuals, groups, and movements have carved out spaces for queer culture, supported the queer community, and represented queer identities and issues. We will learn about subversive artistic and performative forms such as camp. Moreover, we will discuss theoretical and analytical concepts such as the celluloid closet, homonormativity, queering, queer reading, queer heterotopia, whitewashing, pinkwashing, heteronormativity etc.

Assessment and permitted materials

There will be a final written exam (onsite) at the end of the term covering the required reading and the issues discussed in class.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The exam consists of 2 parts which both need to be positive.
Part 1: 2 short answers to questions - 5 points each.
Part 2: 2 well-structured coherent longer answers (about 250 - 350 words) - 15 points each.
minimum score to pass: 21 out of 40 points;
40.0 - 36.0 = 1
35.5 - 31.5 = 2
31.0 - 26.5 = 3
26.0 - 21.0 = 4
20.5 - 0 = 5

Examination topics

The course literature and the PPPs for each individual class will be made available on moodle before (or after, if the lecture is held by a guest speaker) each class.
The class on 18.6. will be dedicated to the preparation for the final exam. Attendance is strongly recommended.

No recording will be made available.

Reading list

The following literature will be referred to by the teacher of the class. You do not have to consult it for the exam, but it can help to understand some of the points of the lecture in more depth.

Butler, Judith. “Chapter 8: Critically Queer,” Bodies That Matter: on the Discursive Limits of "sex" New York, NY: Routledge, 1993, 169-185.

Fürst, Saskia M. Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer: An Afrofuturist Vision of Empowerment for Black Girls and Young Women. In Eligio Fallaci (Ed): Women: Opportunities and Challenges, Hauppauge, NY: Nova 2020, pp. 219-442.

Gonzalez-Sobrino, Bianca, et al. (2019) On-Demand Diversity? The Meanings of Racial Diversity in Netflix Productions. In: David G. Embrick, Sharon M. Collins, and Michelle S. Dodson. Challenging the Status Quo, Brill 2019, pp. 321–344

Kennedy, Natacha. “Pose.” Lambda Nordica 27, no. 3-4 (2023): 76–101. https://doi.org/10.34041/ln.v27.829.

Koch-Rein, Anson, Elahe Haschemi Yekani, and Jasper J. Verlinden. “Representing Trans: Visibility and Its Discontents.” European Journal of English Studies 24, no. 1 (January 2, 2020): 1–12.

The Keywords Feminist Editorial Collective, The Keywords Feminist Editorial Collective. “Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies.” In Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies, Vol. 13. United States: New York University Press, 2021.

Wiedlack, Maria Katharina. Queer-Feminist Punk : An Anti-Social History. Zaglossus, 2015. https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_574668.

Association in the course directory

Studium: BEd 046 / 407
Code/Modul: BEd 04.2
Lehrinhalt: 12-4642

Last modified: Th 25.07.2024 15:45