Cinema 123 Paper
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For our online Cinema 123 course, you are responsible for turning in a final analytical paper. This paper is worth 50 points of your final grade for our class. This paper is due by December 18th at 11:59pm.
Prompt: One of the central concerns with regard to the structuring of this class has been to demonstrate the ways in which histories of queer cinema and scholarship are histories of collaborative world building. I have asked you to think about films across weeks, connecting readings and films even when we might not directly or explicitly think of them as “queer.” Films and works of scholarship build upon their predecessors, “making things queer” in that Doty-like sense. Sometimes, films and works of scholarship do this in ways that are transhistorical even when deeply rooted in their moment of production.
Given your growing body of knowledge with regard to queer theory, criticism, and film, I would like you to choose one film that we have covered for this class to revisit. In your paper, you must make an argument regarding your chosen film by pulling from multiple readings assigned over the course of this class. While you certainly may use the readings that I originally assigned to accompany the film you have chosen, I expect you to pull from across the readings for this class in substantial and meaningful ways.
Below are guidelines to help you write your paper:
● Your final paper should be three to five pages in length. ● Your final paper should be double spaced with one-inch margins on all sides.
Please use size 12 font in either Arial or Times New Roman. ● You must properly cite at least three sources in MLA format with a works
cited page. Citations should be from across at least two weeks of material for this class. For example, you might choose to write about Brokeback Mountain by using the readings from week one and week twelve (or any other two weeks in which you see connections that could help you make your argument about the film you have chosen).
A (hopefully) helpful note:
The prompt for this paper is intentionally vague. The goal of this paper is to allow you to write what will effectively be a lengthened discussion post – to that end, you are welcome to take one of your prior discussion posts as a jumping off point. I want to see that you are able to make an argument about a film we have watched by thinking about all of the material we have covered for this class. What abstract connections can you make between readings that allows you to read a film we have covered in an interesting or new way? Does thinking about the representation of male sex work help you think
about Brokeback Mountain differently? Does reading about Sadie Benning’s video works help you form a new frame for thinking about Dance, Girl, Dance? Does Harry Benshoff’s chapter on monstrosity provide a particularly helpful way of thinking about Fantastic Mr. Fox? Maybe! It is your job to make an argument. If you’re feeling lost, confused, or want a chance to talk out potential paper ideas with me ahead of time, I am here for you! Send me an email and I am more than happy to set up a chance for us to chat one-on-one before you start to write.
Something you can read and use 1.Read the chapter "The Ethics of Sexual Shame" from Michael Warner's book The Trouble With Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life (1999).
The PDF of "The Ethics of Sexual Shame" is below:
Warner, Ethics of Sexual Shame.pdf
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Watch: "Brokeback Mountain" & "Carol"
Watch Brokeback Mountain by clicking this link
(Links to an external site.)
watch Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015) by clicking this link.
Read: Doty, Klinger, and Benshoff
This week, please read the following chapters:
1. "Whose Text is it Anyway?" by Alexander Doty in your textbook.
2. “The Monster and the Homosexual” by Harry Benshoff in your textbook.
3. "Star Gossip: Rock Hudson and the Burdens of Masculinity" in Barbara Klinger's Melodrama and Meaning: History, Culture, and the Films of Douglas Sirk (1994). A PDF is available here: Star Gossip_Rock Hudson and the Burdens of Masculinity.pdf
Watch: "Dance, Girl, Dance" and "Embryo"
1. "Finding Community in the Early 1960s: Underground Cinema and Sexual Politics" by Janet Stagier. This chapter is available in your textbook.
2. "The Politics of Pleasure: Cross-Cultural Autobiographic Performance in the Video Works of Sadie Benning" by Mia Carter, published in Signs (1998). A PDF is available here: The Politics of Pleasure.pdf
Watch: Paris is Burning, The Watermelon Woman, How to Survive a Plague
Read the following chapter for this week's class:
1. "Love Hangover" from Lucas Hildebrand's book Paris is Burning: A Queer Film Classic (2013). A PDF is available here: Love Hangover.pdf
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2. "Transgressive Cinema: Lesbian Independent Film" by Andrea Weiss. A PDF is available here: Transgressive Cinema.pdf
3. "So Many Alternatives: The Alternative AIDS Video Movement" by Alexandra Juhasz, published in Cinéaste (1994). A PDF of the article is available via the Palomar Library by clicking here.
The Living End (Gregg Araki, 1992)
Play media comment.
My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991)
Play media comment.
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Read the following chapters:
- In your textbook, read the chapter "New Queer Cinema" by B. Ruby Rich (pages 53-60).
- "Male Sex Work in Film" by Russell Sheaffer, originally published in Male Sex Work and Society (eds. Victor Minichiello and John Scott, 2014). A PDF is attached below: Representations of Male Sex Work.pdf
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- Read the chapter "Gigolos in Popular Cinema" by Russell Sheaffer, originally published in Male Sex Work and Society, Volume 2 (eds. Victor Minichiello and John Scott, 2020). A PDF is attached below: Gigolos in Popular Cinema.pdf
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In your textbook, read the chapter "Reviewing Queer Viewing" by Caroline Evans and Lorraine Gamman (pages 209-224).
For those without a textbook, a PDF is below:
Reviewing Queer Viewing.pdf
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In your textbook, read the chapter "Pronoun Trouble: The 'Queerness' of Animation" by Sean Griffin (pages 105-118).
For those without a textbook, a PDF is available below:
Pronoun Trouble.pdf
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