1/29: Introduction / 1920s, “The New Woman,” and Harlem’s Queer Nightlife
2/5: 1940s, Sailors, Shipping, “Rosie the Riveter,” Stars as Exports, & the Zoot Suit Riots
- Jane Marcellus, “Bo’s’n’s Whistle: Representing ‘Rosie the Riveter’ on the Job”
- Eduardo Obregón Pagán, “Los Angeles, Geopolitics and the Zoot Suit Riot, 1943.
- Skim: Catherine Haworth, “Million-Dollar Legs and a Desire for the ‘Primitive’”
Primary texts:
- Fred Hogue, “Social Eugenics” (weekly column), Los Angeles Times, 8 June 1941
- Washington Post “Zoot Suit Riot” article collection.
2/12: no class (CUNY Closed)
- Read the Laura Mulvey reading guide
- Read Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” and “Afterward” (this is a difficult reading, I don’t expect you to grasp in during this first round)
- Read the Hitchcock, Birds, viewing guide
- Screen at home: Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds (1963)
2/19: Virtual Class Meeting
- Post a short response to the readings and film on the class blog before 2/19 (this post does not count toward your four blog posts)
- Log onto the class blog on 2/19. Everyone should comment on at least three posts (again, this is a virtual class, so participation is mandatory, but this does not count toward your blogging requirement. However, extra and exceptional participation will earn you extra credit).
- Begin thinking about a short media clip to use for your close analysis project.
2/ 26: 1950s-60s, Suburbia, Motherhood, Housewifery, and The Pill
- Lynn Spigel, “Television and the Family Circle”
- Laura Briggs, “Demon Mothers in the Social Laboratory: Development, Overpopulation, and ‘The Pill””
- Skim: Janice Radway, “Women Read the Romance”
Primary texts:
- Margaret Sanger, “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda” https://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/webedition/app/documents/show.php?sangerDoc=238946.xml
- Betty Friedan, “The Feminine Mystique” excerpt (pages 1-3)
3/4: 1950s-60s, Bachelor Pads & Aspirational, Cosmopolitan Living
- SCREEN AT HOME: Pillow Talk, (Michael Gordon, US, 1959).
- Pamela Robertson Wojcik, “‘We Like Our Apartment’: The Playboy Indoors”
- Laurie Ouellette, “Inventing the Cosmo Girl”
Primary text:
- “The Playboy Townhouse,” Playboy (May 1962) http://www.meathaus.com/townhouse/
- Tomorrow’s Man covers and excerpts at http://www.pulpinternational.com/pulp/keyword/Tomorrow%E2%80%99s+Man.html
3/11: Close Reading Workshop: Laura Mulvey & Alfred Hitchcock
- Review Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” and “Afterward”
- Bring screening notes/links/examples from your audiovisual text to workshop in class
In-class screening: Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds (1963)
Project “pitch” due (hard copy to be submitted in class)
3/18: 1960s-70s: Intersectional Feminism & Strategies from the Underground
- Cherríe Moraga, “La Güera”
- Audre Lorde, “The Uses of the Erotic”
- Jessi Gan, “‘Still at the Back of the Bus’: Sylvia Rivera’s Struggle”
- Margaret Galvan, “Feminism Underground: The Comics Rhetoric of Lee Marrs and Roberta Gregory”
Primary text:
- Wimmin’s Comix excerpts
In class screening: Happy Birthday, Marsha (Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel, 2018)
3/25: 1970s-The Future: AfroFuturism, Cyborgs, SciFi & Glam
- [Primary texts] Octavia Butler, “Blood Child,” Samuel Delany, “Among the Blobs” & Mark Dery interviews on Afrofuturism
- A & B. Read Hari Kunzru, “You Are Cyborg” and TAKE A LOOK at Donna Haraway, “The Cyborg Manifesto”
Close reading projects should be posted by 5pm
4/1: 1980s-The Future, Imagining Radical Feminisms
- bell hooks, “Visionary Feminism”
- Lucas Hilderbrand, “In the Heat of the Moment: Notes on the Past, Present, and Future of Born in Flames”
- Mitchell, Logue & Berry, “Are You Burning?”
Primary text:
- Interview with Lizzie Borden, BOMB Magazine
In class screening: Lizzie Borden, Born in Flames (1983)
4/22: 1980s-1990s, ACT UP and the AIDS crisis
- Marlon Riggs, “Notes of a Signifyin’ Snap Queen” & Ron Gregg review of Tongues Untied
- “The AIDS Crisis is Not Over,” conversation with Gregg Bordowitz, Douglas Crimp, and Laura Pinsky
- Women, AIDS, and Activism, ACT UP Women and AIDS Book Group, excerpts
- Douglas Crimp, “Right on, Girlfriend!”
- Alexandra Juhasz, “Forgetting ACT UP”
Primary texts:
- NYPL Gran Fury collection: Images (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/gran-fury-collection#/) and Guide (https://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/archivalcollections/pdf/granfury_0.pdf)
In class screening: United in Anger (Hubbard, 2012) and excerpts from Marlon Riggs, Tongues Untied (1989)
4/29: Rethinking Sex, Education, Consent, and the Media
- Excerpt from Jennifer S. Hirsch and Shamus Khan, Sexual Citizen
- Young Women’s Empowerment Project, Bad Encounter Line
- Excerpt from adrienne maree brown, Pleasure Activism
- Excerpt from Silverberg and Smyth, Sex is a Funny Word
- Consent workshop materials
Bring TWO copies of formal proposals to class to workshop
5/6: Case Studies: Moonlight & Lemonade
- Farihah Zaman, “Song of Myself”
- Michael Gillespie, Interview with Barry Jenkins
- Feministing, “A Black Feminist Roundtable on bell hooks, Beyoncé, and ‘Moving Beyond Pain’”
Primary texts: excerpt from Saeed Jones, How We Fight for our Lives; Warsan Shire, “For Women Who Are ‘Difficult’ to Love”
Screen at home: Beyoncé’s Lemonade
In class screening: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (2016)
5/13: New Media / New Labor / Rethinking Respectability
- Racquel Gates, “Activating the Negative Image”
- Lisa Nakamura, “The Unwanted Labour of Social Media”
- Brooke Erin Duffy, excerpts from (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work
All blog posts and comments must be posted by 2pm.
Final Projects due 5/20 by 11:59PM via email.