Introductory description

The term queer has been doused in drama since its late Eighties’ appearance in Anglo-American criticism and activism. This module reckons with its accomplishments, troubles and enduring potential for film and television studies.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

W1: New Queer Cinema
Queer World Cinema:
W2: France
W3: Japan
W4: Brazil
W5: Taiwan
Queering the screen:
W7: Queer Jews
W8: Transnational web series
W9: Streaming
W10: TV archive

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• To understand queer theory and practice as they relate to film and television's past, present and future
• To analyse the complex relationship between gender, sexuality, race and nation in historical and contemporary screen cultures
• To distinguish the queer potential and productivity of audiovisual texts' pleasures and platforms
• To articulate understandings in an original, critically engaged and persuasive manner
• To demonstrate an ability to offer nuanced and detailed analyses of film and television texts

Indicative reading list

Aaron, Michele, (ed.), New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004)
Berns, Fernando G. Pagnoni (2016) ‘Water and Queer Intimacy’ in Antonio M. da Silva & Mariana Cunha (eds) Space and Subjectivity in Contemporary Brazilian Cinema (London: Palgrave), pp. 185-200.
Boyarin, D., Itzkovitz, D., and Pellegrini, A., (eds.), Queer Theory and the Jewish Question (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003)
Brady, Anita, Burns, Kelly and Davies, Cristyn, Mediating Sexual Citizenship: Neoliberal Subjectivities in Television Culture, (London: Routledge, 2018)
Christian, Aymar Jean. Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television. 59–155. New York: New York University Press, 2018
Da Silva, Simone C. (2019) 'A Delicate Balance: Queer Masculinities in Contemporary Brazilian Film' in Jane Campbell & Theresa Carilli (eds) Locating Queerness in the Media: A New Look (London: Lexington Books), pp. 161-177
Davis, Glyn and Needham, Gary, (eds.), Queer TV: Theories, Histories, Politics (London: Routledge, 2009)
Dyer, Richard and Pidduck, Julianne, Now You See it: Studies in Lesbian and Gay Film (London: Routledge, 2003)
Edelman, Lee, No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, (London: Duke University Press, 2004).
Gever, Martha, Greyson, John and Parmar, Pratibha, (eds.), Queer Looks (New York: Routledge, 1993)
Griffin, F. Hollis. Feeling Normal: Sexuality and Media Criticism in the Digital Age. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017
Grossman, A, (ed.) (2001) Queer Asian Cinema (New York: Routledge)
Halberstam, Judith. (2011). The Queer Art of Failure, Durham: Duke University Press, 2011.
Jenner, Mareike, Netflix and Re-invention of Television (Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)
E. Patrick Johnson, Mae G. Henderson, eds., Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2005)
Joyrich, Lynn, ‘Queer Television Studies: Currents, Flows, and (Main)streams’, Cinema Journal. 53:2, (2014), pp. 133-139
Lim, Song Hwee (2014) Tsai Ming-liang and a Cinema of Slowness (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press).
Mercer, Kobena, (1994). Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. Routledge
Miller, Quinlan, Camp TV: Trans Gender Queer Sitcom History (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019).
Murtagh, B. (2014). Genders and Sexualities in Indonesian Cinema. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Rees-Roberts, Nick. (2008) French Queer Cinema (Edinburgh University Press)
Schoonover, Karl, and Rosalind Galt. Queer Cinema in the World. Durham: Duke University Press, 2016.
Subero, G. (2013). HIV in World Cultures: Three Decades of Representations. Farnham: Ashgate
Villarejo, Amy, Ethereal Queer: Television, Historicity, Desire, (United States of America: Duke University Press, 2014).
Villarejo, Amy. “Jewish, Queer-ish, Trans, and Completely Revolutionary: Jill Soloway’s Transparent and the New Television.” Film Quarterly 69.4 (Summer 2016)
White, Rosie, Television Comedy and Femininity: Queering Gender (London: I. B. Tauris, 2018)

Subject specific skills

This module develops skills of audio-visual literacy, through close textual and contextual analysis in relation to audio-visual screen narratives. It may also develop understandings of historical, theoretical and conceptual frameworks
relevant to screen arts and cultures.

Transferable skills

• critical and analytical thinking
• independent research skills
• clarity and effectiveness of communication, oral and written
• accurate, concise and persuasive writing
• audio-visual literacy