Mar 29, 2024  
Catalogue 2019-2020 
    
Catalogue 2019-2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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MEDS 241 - Topics in the Construction of Gender

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as WMST 241  ) Topic for 2019/20: 241b. Masculinities///Femininities through the Lens of DisneyTM
The Disney industry has had a global impact on the circulation of masculinities and femininities in the post-war Fordist and then post-Fordist late capitalist eras. Generating a proliferation of ideas of gender that contradict and embolden one another, Disney films provide an ideal case study for examining the centrality of gender and sexuality to imperialism and the imbrication of identity and power. While remaining mostly staunchly heteronormative despite other media industries becoming more inclusive of queer relationships, DisneyTM can be read “queerly,” as this course will explore. We will be examining not only the films themselves, but also at the historical moments in which they were created, and the corporations that shaped them. The
goal of the course is to give you ways to approach texts that ask not to be seen critically and also to learn how to mine normative texts for their queer and anti-racist potential. We look at the Disney Corporation’s efforts to portray itself as innocuous and “timeless,” and then use that information to think about the aspects of Disney’s films that have implications for our understanding of the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, class, disability, nation, and imperialism. Elias Krell

Prerequisite(s): Course is by permission of instructor and requires a short application.

2 75 Minute periods

Course Format: CLS



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