VISU3182: Special Subject: Screening Masculinities (40 credits)

• VISU1021 and VISU2021

• None

• VISU3171

• To develop the students' research skills
• To develop the students' ability to analyse and criticise filmic texts
• To consolidate and refine the theoretical concepts learned by students in previous years, especially within the fields of Film, Gender, Sexuality and Race Studies.
• To expand the students' knowledge of national and transnational cinemas, stars, filmmakers and gender cultures and theories.

• This course focuses on 8 case studies covering a wide range of genres, periods and (trans)national cinemas with specific emphasis on iconic masculine figures,
• Students will become familiar with key aspects of Film Studies including close analysis, star studies, genre, characterisation and performance or spectatorship as well as key concepts of gender theory and mens studies, including hegemonic masculinities, crisis of masculinities, queer masculinities, male film stars, or the male body as spectacle.
• Topics for discussion will include issues such as ageing, body building, body image, disabilities, heroes and antiheroes, race and ethnicity, (stereo)typical men, queer, gender queer, trans, metrosexual or non-binary characters.
• Typical case studies explored will include examples of contemporary African Westerns, Bollywood classics, British period dramas, comic superhero adaptation sagas, Hollywood Biblical Epics, musicals or melodramas, Italian peplum films, French noir, Netflix crime docuseries, queer cinema, or Spanish postmodern comedies or horror films. These materials will be contextualised with examples of advertising campaigns and fashion shoots, artworks including paintings, performances, photography and video art pieces, comic books, comic skits, newspaper cuttings, music videos and live performances, podcasts, screenplays, social media posts, theatre, underground fanzines, or YouTube videos among other forms of media.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• By the end of this module, students will be expected to:
• critically assess the moving image with sensitivity for issues such as genre, period, national and transnational industry contexts
• critically understand the construction and deconstruction of masculinities in mainstream and independent cinemas from around the world,
• manage with confidence classic and cutting-edge concepts and terminology in the fields of Film, Gender, Genre, Nation, Race, Representation, Sex and Sexualities.

Subject-specific Skills:

• By the end of this module, students will be expected to:
• think critically about the ways in which films represent gender and men in particular and how those depictions of men and masculinities may impact perceptions of gender in different societies and periods,
• think critically about diverse forms of identity (gender, national, racial, sexual),
• critically analyse films (including technical aspects of filmmaking and subject-specific terminology),
• think critically about academic and journalistic texts read in the module and beyond,
• write about film with clarity and sophistication, using subject-specific language and academic writing style.

Key Skills:

• By the end of this module, students should:
• develop research skills and independent study skills,
• develop excellent analytical skills (including visual texts and especially moving image),
• develop writing skills appropriate to finalist level,
• develop presentation skills,
• enhance time management, IT, organisational, leadership and team-work skills (all essential for the presentation).

• The module will be taught in terms 1 and 2.
• Weekly 2-hour seminars will typically start with a brief (15-min) talk by the lecturer introducing key theoretical concepts and skills to manage during the session, followed by group discussion of a set weekly reading and/or film.
• Each case study (up to 4 in total per term) will usually be studied over a 2-week period. The first week will focus on the reading and the second week on the film.
• The last two weeks of each term will be devoted to small-group work that will allow students to formulate research questions and plans for their projects and to receive informal feedback from their peers and tutors or ask questions about any aspects of the content studied during that term in the module.
• The assessment will consist of a film commentary due at by the end of term 1, a project work-in-progress presentation including a short summary due by the end of term 2, and a longer research project due in term 3.

Seminar participation. Attendance and participation will be monitored. Quality of participation in the last two weeks of each term (group work) will be closely monitored. Informal oral feedback will be provided in those sessions.

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