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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "CMS 353"
COURSE NAME: "Women in Film"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Summer Session II 2018
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Jeanne Liotta
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: MTWTH 3:50-5:40 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS: M-T-W-Th/ 3-4 pm, by email appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course introduces the issues that feminist theories pose for the analysis of films and culture. These issues are usually framed in reference to women’s access to and roles in the production of media and women’s representation within these media. Correspondingly, the course offers two major sections of investigation. First, we will explore the historical development of women’s roles in the cinema as creative artists. Second, we will explore the various ways in which women’s roles in the film industry intersect with the wider identity political issues of race, class, sexuality, and national identity.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
Your professor will introduce issues that feminist theories pose for the analysis of films and contemporary culture,
emphasizing radical gestures in form, identity, fantasy and agency, in front of and behind the camera.
As such all the works we will see in this course are created by film/video/media makers who self identify as women- with one notable exception.
Daily screenings and discussion, readings and weekly written responses.
You will have the opportunity to write a final essay on a germane topic of your choice, and to use this text to construct a final video essay.
Examples of video essays will be shown throughout the course in addition to the moving image artworks by women that we will be studying. 
Please keep a journal for your notes—electronic devices glow and are disruptive during screenings.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
No one book is required for class-- pdf excerpts   and links will be provided and most are quite manageable.
Some outside viewing may be suggested.
Attendance is mandatory aside from extenuating circumstances, please let me know.
TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
3 written reading responses 30%
Discussion/participation/ presence 20%
Final paper/ video essay 50%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance is mandatory aside from extenuating circumstances, please let me know.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
SCHEDULE

nota bene: below you will find a schedule draft--some changes may be applied concerning certain titles to be screened, pending availability, or desire.  This may impact essays to be read for class as well. I will amend the schedule as necessary and make certain to alert you as to any changes in titles screened or essays read..  



WEEK ONE: 

HERSTORY

Herstory: A History Female Filmmakers, 2011, animation by Kelly Gallagher US

Cabbage Fairy 1896, & other early shorts by Alice Guy-Blache  FR.

“Seeing Sound” animated short films by Mary Ellen Bute US (1933-53)



+Mathematical Beauty: Visual Music by Mary Ellen Bute, a video essay by Laura Ivins, 2017

Meshes of The Afternoon 1943, and At Land, 1946,  Maya Deren  RUS/US

In the Mirror of Maya Deren, 2001, Martina Kudlacek CZ/AUS

FEMALE GAZE

Jill Soloway, The Female Gaze lecture  (excerpt)  @TIFF 2017 .

Clip from Meeks Cutoff by Kelly Reichardt

Fuses,1969 Carolee Schneeman US

Removed 2001 Naomi Uman  US/MEX/UKR

Fembot in a Red Dress, 2017, video essay by Alison DeFren



+READ: Roland Barthes, “Leaving the Movie Theatre”, 1986, from The Rustle of Language

Laura Mulvey  'Visual Pleasure and Narrative cinema”,  1975

+ Assignment: Short Reading Responses. on Barthes and Mulvey. Prompts to follow.



WEEK TWO

NEW WAVES

Cleo from 5 to 7, 1962 Agnes Varda FR

Daisies (Sedmikrasky) 1966  Vera Chytilova CZ



ART OF THE REAL: LIFE LOVE LABOR



Wanda, 1970 Barbara Loden US

Vagabond, 1985, Agnes Varda FR

Wendy and Lucy, 2008 Kelly Reichardt US

Footnotes to a House of Love, 2007 Laida Lerxtundi BASQUE/US

Fake Fruit Factory 1986, Chick Strand US/MEX

+READ

-               Nathalie Legier, Suite for Barbara Loden (excerpts), Les Fugitives Presse, Paris, 2015

-               Hilary Neroni, Feminist Film Theory and Cléo from 5 to 7 (Film Theory in Practice)

-               Maria Pramaggiore, Chick Strand's Experimental Ethnography /​ from Womens Experimental Cinema,

editor Robin Blaetz, Duke Univ. Press 2007 



WEEK THREE 

TV GENERATION & the 2ND WAVE

Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975 Martha Rosler

Technology Transformation Wonder Woman, 1978 Dara Birnbaum

Vertical Roll, 1972 Joan Jonas US

THE FUTURE IS BLACK AND FEMALE

Born in Flames, Lizzie Borden 1983 US

Afronauts, Frances Bodomo 2015 GHANA/US

Q.U.E.E.N, Janelle Monae, 2017

 

+READ

-Ytasha L. Womack, Afrofuturism: the World of Black Sci-fi & Fantasy culture, Chicago Review Press 2013

-               Sarah Montgomery,, ‘Women's Women's Films, from: Feminist Review, No. 18, Cultural Politics, Winter 1984

-Ann-Sargent Wooster, “The Way We Were”, from The First Generation, Women and Video 1970-75, Independent Curators Incorporated

TELL ME

Gently Down The Stream, 1981, Su Friedrich US

Home Avenue, 1990 Jennifer Montgomery US

She Puppet, 2001 Peggy Ahwesh US

+READ

- Erika Balsom , “No Masters: The Cinema of Peggy Ahwesh”, Frieze Nov 2017

- Chris Holmlund, “When Autobiography Meet Ethnography and Girl Meets Girl: The ‘Dyke Docs’ of Sadie Benning and Su Friedrich Between the Sheets, In the Streets, ” in Chris Holmlund and Cynthia Fuchs (eds),Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1994, pp. 127–143.

WEEK FOUR.

PERFORMING GENDER

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story 1987, Todd Haynes US

Paris is Burning, 1990 Jennie Livingston US

Intermittent Delight, 2007 5 min Akosua Adoma Owusu (Ghana/US)

Bande des Fille (Girlhood), 2014, Celine Sciamma, FR

+READ

-Butler, Judith,  “Gender is Burning” from Bodies That Matter. 1993

- Todd Haynes, “Three Screenplays: An Introduction”, Grove Press Canada/NY 2003

-bell hooks, ‘The Oppositional Gaze’, 1992, from. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Routledge: New York, 2015. YES AGAIN.

-Interview with Celine Sciamma,  Indiewire.

-Durga Chew Bose,  On Brown Girl Exclusivity and Writng Our Own Narratives,