Department of English

This course will examine the gender of film and the filming of gender. We will interrogate the ways in which cinematic history colludes in, reproduces, duplicates, and disrupts historical constructs of masculinity and femininity. Specifically, we will examine works by such directors as Dorothy Arzner, Maya Deren, Monika Treut, and Julie Dash. Readings will include Mulvey, Merck, DeLaurentis and others. Although this course focuses on women film makers, we will also discuss more generally the representation of women in films; for this reason we might also view a few popular films in which women as action heroes play a central role. Work for the course will consist of quizzes, two papers, and oral reports.