Film and Gender

Singapore University of Social Sciences

Film and Gender (FLM357)

Synopsis

Film and Gender offers students the opportunity to explore issues and theories of gender through the medium of film. The academic study of gendered representations in film began in the early 1970s and the area of film and gender studies has since developed into a large and complex filed. This course provides a critical introduction to the key terms, concepts and debates in film and gender studies. Its wide-ranging choice of historical and contemporary films chart the major shifts in film and gender theory and provides a grounding in formal film criticism, its specific discourses and its relation to the study of gender. Close attention will be given to the historical and cultural study of images of men and women in cinema; the ideological effects of the cinematic apparatus on the spectator; cognitive approaches to analysing film naratives; and, to postmodern theories of the body, embodiment and film spectatorship. The films studies include Alien, Die Hard, Double Indemnity, Fight Club, Raise the Red Lantern, Ringu (The Ring), Silence of the Lambs, and Vertigo.

Level: 3
Credit Units: 5
Presentation Pattern: Every July
E-Learning: BLENDED - Learning is done MAINLY online using interactive study materials in Canvas. Students receive guidance and support from online instructors via discussion forums and emails. This is supplemented with SOME face-to-face sessions. If the course has an exam component, this will be administered on-campus.

Topics

Introduction: Film and Gender Studies
Representations of Gender and Gendered Representations
The Cinematic Apparatus and the Gaze
Horror and the Monstrous Feminine
Masculinity in Crisis
Postmodern Bodies

Learning Outcome

Use close reading skills to study the formal, narrative, and Ideological dimensions of film.
Analyse how filmmakers use the cinematic medium to interrogate concepts of gender.
Show knowledge of the ways in which film functions as a historical and cultural medium.
Formulate critical stands on the portrayal of gender in film.
Examine the validity of arguments in the secondary critical and theoretical material.
Compose academic essays that employ the appropriate skills in scholarly research, writing, and citation.