Syllabus: Queer Film and Video

Professor Melanie E.S. Kohnen, Georgia Tech University

Full syllabus available here: http://homes.lmc.gatech.edu/~mkohnen3/Kohnen_Syllabus_Queer_Film_and_Video.pdf

Additional teaching materials here: http://homes.lmc.gatech.edu/~mkohnen3/index_tp.html

“This class explores how LGBT and queer identities, lives, and communities have become visible in and to mainstream America through the media of film and television. In turn, we will also examine how media representations of LGBT and queer Americans have shaped conversations of what it means to be gay/queer in the United States.

As our class moves through the history of film and television toward the digital age, we will discover that queerness has always been at the heart of these media even in times when LGBT stories and characters were supposedly invisible. We will also focus on how being able to discern queerness often relates to ‘seeing’ (or not) race, as the histories of sexuality and race are closely entwined in American culture. We will examine a wide range of texts, including classical Hollywood films, a variety of TV shows, activist documentaries, and online videos. In our discussions, we will pay particular attention to the normalization of LGBT identities in and through the media.”

Keywords: LGBTQ, analysis, media studies, television, transgender