Race and Gender in Contemporary US Film

elective courses
proseminars

This proseminar examines American movies which can be viewed as responses to two powerful social movements of recent years: Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. We will first discuss the movements themselves, their causes (both direct and long term), the ideas and values behind them, and the cultural change and public debates they sparked. Next, we will focus our attention on a handful of powerful and controversial films from the last half decade focused either on racial injustice or gendered violence.

How has US film responded to the most progressive social movement mobilizations? Have movies been made that can be viewed as accurate expressions of the aims, ideologies and affects of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo? Have new genres emerged to deal with these events? What is the impact of the two movements on documentary film?

In the course of the proseminar we will examine:

(1) journalistic and academic texts about Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, as well as more broadly - race and gender in US culture.

(2) a selection of feature films as well as documentaries either directly or indirectly inspired by the two movements.

(3) relevant work in film theory and criticism.

Students will be asked to focus their papers either on one of the films discussed in class or on another relevant recent movie of their choice. Comparative studies can also be developed, asking how the recent films films compare to movies from the 60s, 70s and 80s, which were responding to the Civil Rights Movement and second second wave feminism.

Movies to be discussed (note that this list is subject to change):

I am not Your Negro (Raoul Peck, 2016)

Get Out (dir. Jordan Peele, 2017)

The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr. 2018)

BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee 2018)

NOPE (Jordan Peele, 2022)

When They See Us (2019) | TV Series | Directed by Ava DuVernay

The Assistant (Kitty Green 2019)

Bombshell (Jay Roach, 2019)

Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell, 2021)

Tar (Todd Field, 2022)

Women Talking” (Sarah Polley, 2022)

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (Nina Menkes, 2022)

Selected bibliography:

On Gender and #MeToo:

Farrow, Ronan. “Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies.” The New Yorker, Nov 6, 2017.

Gieseler, Carly, The Voices of #MeToo: From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar

(Roman & Littlefield 2019).- selections.

Hong Luo, Laurina Zhang (2021) Scandal, Social Movement, and Change: Evidence from #MeToo in Hollywood. Management Science 68(2):1278-1296.

Horton, Adrian. Breaking the silence: movies grapple with the #MeToo movement, The Guardian, 28 Nov 2022

Kantor, Jodi, and Megan Twohey. 2017. “Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades.” The New York Times, October 5, 2017.

MacKinnon, Catharine A. 2019. “Where #MeToo Came From, and Where It’s Going.” The Atlantic. March 24, 2019.

Manne, Kate. Down Girl. The Logic of Misogyny (Penguin 2018)

Srinivasan Amia, The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century (Bloomsbury 2021).

On Race, Racism and and BLM:

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. We Were Eight Years in Power (Random House, 2018)

Cobb, Jelani and David Remnick (eds), The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from The New Yorker (2021) (selections)

DiAngelo, Robin. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (Beacon Press, 2018)

Keetley, Dawn (ed.), Jordan Peele's Get Out: Political Horror (New Suns, 2020)

Po ukończeniu kursu student:

WIEDZA:

- zna szereg ważnych współczesnych filmów amerykańskich dotyczących problematyki rasowej i genderowej;

- posiada szeroką dotyczącą dwóch ruchów społecznych: MeToo i Black Lives Matter;

- rozumie język filmu, jego wizualną "gramatykę" i ideologiczny przekaz.

UMIEJĘTNOŚCI:

- potrafi zrozumieć i wyjaśnić złożoną argumentację w zakresie filmoznawstwa;

- potrafi precyzyjnie mowić o filmie, analizować fabuły i sceny, uwzględniając przy tym kontekst kulturowy;

- potrafi przeprowadzić kwerendę w pismach naukowych w bazach danych;

- potrafi kompetentnie zebrać i zaprezentować wiedzę na wąsko określony temat z zakresu filmoznawstwa pisząc pracę naukową;

KOMPETENCJE SPOŁECZNE:

- potrafi pracować w grupie nad wspólnym projektem badawczym;

- jest otwarty na rozmaite interpretacje i opinie dotyczące tekstów kultury a także wizje kultury jako takiej;

- potrafi formułować własne poglądy w sposób spójny i wyrazisty, zachowując jednak szacunek dla poglądów odmiennych.

WYMAGANE: obecność na zajęciach, staranne przygotowanie, aktywy udział w dyskusji, przygotowanie pracy końcowej w kilku etapach

CZĘSCI SKŁADOWE OCENY:

• aktywność na zajęciach i na forum na platformie Kampus (10%)

• Projekt pracy z bibliografią opisową; outline (20%)

• Prezentacja końcowa (20%)

• praca końcowa (12-15 stron) (50%)

5! = 96

5 = 92.5

4+ = 87.5

4 = 80

3+ = 75

3 = 60