Chapman University
Fall 2022
FFC 100D: queer Cinema
Instructor Contact Information:
- Ian Barnard, Ph.D.
- Office: 428 N. Glassell #104
- Live Office Hours On Mondays and Wednesdays In Person or Via Zoom, Depending on Chapman's COVID Protocol (email me to schedule)
- Email Office Hours: [email protected]
Land Acknowledgement (from Chapman's Wilkinson College website):
Wilkinson College believes all students should be taught the importance of recognizing land to understand the colonizing roots of academia and the way many fields of higher education have been used in the ostracizing, marginalization and disempowering (as well as the stealing of land, forced removal, and genocide) of communities. In doing so, we hope to inspire our students to use their education to challenge institutional and structural barriers to work toward equality, respect, and the lifting of their communities. Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences collectively acknowledges that Chapman University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Acjachemen Peoples in the Juaneño Territory, adjacent to our Tongva/Kizh neighbors to the North and Payomkawichum/Luiseño and Kumeyaay neighbors to the South. In addition, we recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of California’s 109 federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in California, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, and consistent with our values of community and diversity, acknowledge our responsibility to hold the university more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
Catalog Course Description:
- Prerequisite, first-year students in Wilkinson College have priority. Some seats may be available to students from other schools and colleges. This course engages students in interdisciplinary, university-level critical inquiry and reflection. The FFC course focuses more on critical engagement, exploration, and communication related to complex issues than on mastering a body of material. The section topics vary, and students select a topic according to their academic and personal interests. Engaging the World combines course-work and extra-curricular programming to promote mindful reflection and thoughtful dialogue around critical social issues of contemporary times. The program encourages students to envision the previously unimaginable and bring disparate ideas together in new configurations to cultivate nuanced and informed responses to current social challenges. Other elements of the program help students successfully navigate the transition from high school to college. Some sections of this course may allow students with more than 30 credits earned to enroll. Letter grade. (Offered every semester.) 3 credits
- This particular section of FFC is part of Wilkinson College's Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies program for Fall 2022. Queer Cinema focuses on a selection of contemporary queer films, emphasizing work by LGBTQIA+ BIPOC filmmakers and/or about LGBTQIA+ BIPOC characters in order to investigate larger questions the films raise about relations of power, colonial legacies, social justice, lived experiences, and representation. We'll ask how race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and class intersect and diverge in the creation and articulation of diverse queer identities and practices in these films and beyond.
Student Learning Outcomes for This Course:
- General Education Learning Outcome for All FFC Sections: Students critically analyze and communicate complex issues and ideas.
- Engaging The World 2022 FFC Learning Outcome: Students will engage critically with the histories, cultures, perspectives, and/or community work of marginalized racial and ethnic group(s) in the United States.
Course Materials:
Readings:
- Course readings will be available on Canvas or via the Leatherby Libraries.
K = available on Kanopy (free)
S = available on Swank (free)
A = available on Amazon Prime Video
N = available on Netflix
C = will be screened in class
* = on reserve in the Leatherby Libraries
- Iris Moore, Beyond the Mirror's Gaze (C)
- Joseph Gaï Ramaka, Karmen Geï (K) *
- Isaac Julien, The Attendant (C) * (Note that this film is on the Looking for Langston DVD in the Leatherby Libraries)
- Lucía Puenzo, XXY (K) *
- John Trengove, The Wound (K)
- Li Cheng, José (S)
- Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, The Celluloid Closet (A) *
- Dee Rees, Pariah (S) *
- Berry Jenkins, Moonlight (S) *
- Sam Feder, Disclosure: Trans Lives on the Screen (N)
- Sean Baker, Tangerine (S) *
- Jennie Livingston, Paris is Burning (K) *
- Sadie Benning, Videoworks, Volume I (C) *
Course Requirements:
I expect you to read and watch all assigned texts carefully and critically, and to participate vigorously in the many class discussions around which the course is organized. You will keep a reading/viewing journal, complete three major assignments and other smaller assignments, and attend at least three events in Wilkinson College's Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies, Fall 2022 series (excluding Pariah) before the end of October (see information below on these assignments and attendance policy). For lower-division courses, you should expect to spend about five hours per week outside of class working on the course. I will check in with you periodically to discuss the workload for this course.
Grade Distribution:
- Short Paper...............................................................................................25%
- Expanding a Journal Entry......................................................................35%
- Creative Project and Presentation .........................................................20%
- Other Assignments..................................................................................20%
- Up to Three Extra Credit Points (see below).
- Attendance: Due to the highly interactive nature of this course and the emphasis on class discussions, I expect you to attend all class meetings (and to be on time). According to the university catalog, Chapman "recommends as a minimal policy that students who are absent 20 percent of the course should be failed" (i.e., if you miss more than five class meetings). Your final course grade will usually be negatively impacted if you miss more than four classes--however, my attendance policy is flexible in the case of class members who are observing COVID-related isolation or quarantine or who need to miss more than four class meetings due to other emergencies.
Information on Assignments:
- Journal: The purpose of the journal is twofold: 1) to enable you to record and reflect on your responses to course materials, usually before being influenced by class discussions, but in some cases after class discussions of a particular text/event (in the latter case, don’t just repeat what we say in class, but reflect on how your ideas have evolved as a result of class discussion); 2) to generate material that you can use in class discussions and in your major assignments. Each journal entry will take the form of a short informal written reflection (250-500 words; since this is a digital journal, you may include links, images, video excerpts, and other digital elements to support your points), an audio response (2-3 minutes), or a short video (2-3 minutes). It’s ok to be informal! Don’t just summarize the text/event; use the first person and focus on your response to the text/event and what you found particularly interesting or important or problematic about it—be sure to give specific examples from your text/event. You will lose points if you post journal entries late without prior consultation with me.
- Short Paper: Write a brief essay explaining how you see queerness intersecting (or not) with race and/or ethnicity and/or nationality and/or colonial power relations, as illustrated in the course materials we have discussed so far. Feel free to discuss any of our course readings as well as some or all of the films we have watched thus far (e.g., Karmen Geï, XXY, The Attendant, The Wound, José). You are also welcome to use material from your first four journal responses, and to bring in other relevant films or readings as well as your own personal experience if you wish. Write in the first person and focus on your own ideas rather than on merely summarizing films, readings, and class discussions. Since you will be posting your essay on Canvas, you may include links, images, video excerpts, and other digital elements to support your points. Conclude your essay with a bibliography that includes any films, readings, and other sources you reference, and make sure that your essay has a title. Your target audience is other scholars who are interested in your topic but are not necessarily members of our class. 500-1000 words, excluding the bibliography. You will get feedback on a draft of your essay from colleagues, and will have the option to revise your essay for a higher grade at the end of the semester.
- Expanding a Journal Entry: Choose one of your journal responses 5, 6, 7, and 9 that you’d like to develop into an essay. Is there something in your response that you’d like to expand on? Some aspect of the film that we didn’t cover in class discussion? Some aspect of our discussion or of a critic’s response to the film that you disagree with? Something about the film that you’ve changed your mind about since you wrote your journal response to it? You will need to engage with at least one outside source in your essay. Make sure that your essay doesn’t just summarize the film or our or others’ discussion of the film. Write in the first person and focus on your contribution to/intervention into these discussions. Support your points with specific examples from the film. And since you will be posting your essay on Canvas, feel free to include links, images, video excerpts, and other digital elements to support your points. Although you will be focusing on one film, feel free to refer to other films if you want, as well as class readings and other relevant reading you may have done. Conclude your essay with a bibliography that includes your film(s) and secondary source(s) and make sure that you have a title for your essay. Your target audience is other scholars who are interested in the film but are not necessarily members of our class. 750-1500 words, excluding the bibliography. You will get feedback on a draft of your essay from colleagues, and will have the option to revise your essay for a higher grade at the end of the semester. You will lose points if you turn in your essay late without prior consultation with me.
- Creative Project and Presentation: Using Sadie Benning’s work as a model, create a 3-5 minute queer film individually or with other class members that addresses some aspect of queerness, or queer cinema, or your own queerness. You will post your film on Canvas and introduce it to the class at our class queer film festival on the day of our final exam. At our queer film festival, you will tell us a bit about your film, explain what your goal was in creating this film, discuss your process of creating it, if collaborative explain how each group member contributed to the project, show your film to the class, and answer questions afterwards. Don't forget to note any trigger warnings, if applicable. If you work collaboratively, I expect all group members to contribute to making the film and to the presentation. Everyone in a group earns the same grade for the project, unless some group members don’t contribute sufficiently. Each presentation lasts a maximum of 10 minutes: 2 minutes to introduce your film, 5 minutes to screen your film, and 3 minutes to answer questions. You will lose points if you post your film late without prior consultation with me.
- Other Assignments: These include journal entries, in-class writings and other in-class activities, posting drafts of your projects on Canvas, and information literacy activities. I evaluate these assignments on a credit/no credit basis. In class we will discuss criteria for earning credit for these assignments. You cannot make up a missed or late assignment in this category without prior consultation with me.
- Extra Credit Points: You have the opportunity to earn a maximum of three extra credit points for the course: facilitate or participate in the Pariah Zoom discussion (1 extra credit point); attend an additional ETW event (in addition to the required three) and discuss your response to the event in an extra journal entry (due not more than two days after the additional ETW event) (1 extra credit point); get feedback on your short paper or journal entry expansion from a tutor at the Writing Center before you turn in your final version to me, and give me a note from the Writing Center documenting your meeting with the tutor on or before the final exam time (1 extra credit point)
Course Policies and Resources:
- Citation of Sources: Plagiarism is a contested and context-specific topic. We will discuss effective ways of using sources and issues around plagiarism in class. Click here to read Chapman University's policy on academic integrity.
- Email Protocol: I acknowledge all email messages within 48 hours. If you email me but don’t get a response, I haven’t received your email. Feel free to email me concerning any questions you have about the course or about your work. It’s important to practice composing professional emails: be sure that your emails to me include appropriate subject lines, salutations, and closes.
- Classroom Dynamics: This course is discussion-oriented. I do not spend much time lecturing and expect you to participate vigorously in the many discussions around which the course is organized. We all teach and learn in this course--I do not believe in a one-way transmission of “knowledge” from instructor to students. I don’t have all the answers, and I look forward to learning as much as teaching in this course. You should direct your questions and comments in class to your colleagues as much as to me. I encourage you to talk in class and to encourage your colleagues to do the same. If you tend to talk a lot in class, make a concerted effort to create space for other class members to participate as well.
- Diversity: Chapman University is committed to ensuring equality and valuing diversity. Students and professors are reminded to show respect at all times as outlined in Chapman's Harassment and Discrimination Policy. Any violations of this policy should be discussed with the professor, the Dean of Students, and/or otherwise reported in accordance with this policy. Click here to read Chapman University's Statement on Diversity.
- Students With Disabilities: Please contact me early in the semester if you have a documented disability, so that we can discuss what accommodations, if any, I might make to help you to succeed in this class. Click here to read Chapman University's Policy Statement for Assisting Students with Disabilities.
- Electronic Devices: Please bring your laptop to seminar meetings, but do not use electronic devices for non course-related work during class time.
- Information about Wilkinson College's Peer Advising Program.
- Information about the Writing Center.
tentative schedule
Readings marked * are on Canvas
Week 1
Monday 8/29/2022
Wednesday 8/31/2022
Unit I: International Queer Cinema
Week 2
Wednesday 9/7/2022
Week 3
Monday 9/12/2022
Week 4
Monday 9/19/2022
Week 5
Monday 9/26/2022
Week 6
Monday 10/3/2022
Monday 10/10/2022
Unit II: US Queer Cinema
Week 8
Monday 10/17/2022
Week 9
Monday 10/24/2022
Week 10
Monday 10/31/2022
Week 11
Monday 11/7/2022
Week 12
Monday 11/14/2022
Week 13
Monday 11/28/2022
Week 14
Monday 12/5/2022
Final Exam: Monday, 12/12/2022, 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m.
Week 1
Monday 8/29/2022
- In-Class Activities: introduction to the course; in-class discussion of Wilkinson College's definition of Ethnic Studies; introduction to upcoming readings and reading strategies
- Homework Assignments for 8/31/2022: read Nguyen, "Through Ethnic Studies, Schools Push to Include Marginalized Perspectives"*
Wednesday 8/31/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and journal criteria; set up journals; class member introductions
- Homework Assignments for 9/7/2022: read any two of the following three texts: "What the Research Says About Ethnic Studies"*, "Towards a Third Cinema"*, Introduction to Queer African Cinemas*; journal 1 due by 2 p.m. on 9/7/2022
Unit I: International Queer Cinema
Week 2
Wednesday 9/7/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and journal 1; introduction to Karmen Geï
- Homework Assignments for 9/12/2022: watch Karmen Geï (Kanopy); journal 2 due by 2 p.m. on 9/12/2022
Week 3
Monday 9/12/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss Karmen Geï and journal 2
- Homework Assignments for: 9/14/2022: read Chapter 3 in A Short Guide to Writing About Film*
- In-Class Activities: discuss readings; introduction the The Attendant
- Homework Assignments for 9/19/2022: read articles about The Attendant*
Week 4
Monday 9/19/2022
- In-Class Activities: watch and discuss The Attendant
- Homework Assignments for 9/21/2022: read articles about intersex identity and politics*
- In-Class Activities: introduction to XXY
- Homework Assignments for 9/26/2022: watch XXY (Kanopy); journal 3 due by 2 p.m. on 9/26/2022
Week 5
Monday 9/26/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss XXY and journal 3
- Homework Assignments for 9/28/2022: none!
- In-Class Activities: introduction to The Wound and José; assign short paper
- Homework Assignments for 10/3/2022: watch The Wound (Kanopy) and José (Swank); journal 4 due by 2 p.m. on 10/3/2022
Week 6
Monday 10/3/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss The Wound, José, and journal 4
- Homework Assignments for 10/5/2022: work on your short paper
- In-Class Activities: work on short paper
- Homework Assignments for 10/10/2022: post a draft of your short paper on Canvas by 2 p.m. on 10/10/2022
Monday 10/10/2022
- In-Class Activities: peer workshops on short paper; mid-semester course feedback
- Homework Assignments for 10/12/2022: post your revised short paper on Canvas by 2 p.m.on 10/12/2022
- In-Class Activities: short paper debrief; discuss mid-semester feedback; introduction to The Celluloid Closet; special guests
- Homework Assignments for 10/17/2022: watch The Celluloid Closet (Amazon); journal 5 due by 2 p.m. on 10/17/2022
Unit II: US Queer Cinema
Week 8
Monday 10/17/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss The Celluloid Closet and journal 5
- Homework Assignments for 10/19/2022: watch Moonlight (Swank)
- In-Class Activities: discuss Moonlight; assign roles for next week's Zoom discussion
- Homework Assignments for 10/24/2022: watch Pariah (Swank); journal 6 due by 2 p.m. on 10/24/2022
Week 9
Monday 10/24/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss Pariah and journal 6; prepare for Wednesday's Zoom discussion; introduction to Disclosure
- Homework Assignments for 10/26/2022: prepare for Wednesday's Zoom discussion
- In-Class Activities: Zoom discussion of Pariah for Wilkinson's Engaging the World Series Ethnic Studies events
- Homework Assignments for 10/31/2022: watch Disclosure (Netflix); journal 7 due by 2 p.m. on 10/31/2022
Week 10
Monday 10/31/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss Disclosure and journal 7; Engaging the World debrief; introduction to George Takei and Paris is Burning
- Homework Assignments for 11/7/2022: readings on Paris is Burning*; watch Paris is Burning (Kanopy); journal 8 due by 2 p.m. on 11/7/2022
- In-Class Activities: no class; George Takei's presentation at 7:30 p.m. tonight
- Homework Assignments for 11/7/2022: readings on Paris is Burning*; watch Paris is Burning (Kanopy); journal 8 due by 2 p.m. on 11/7/2022
Week 11
Monday 11/7/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss Paris is Burning and journal 8; George Takei debrief; introduction to Tangerine
- Homework Assignments for 11/9/2022: watch Tangerine (Swank); journal 9 due by 2 p.m. on 11/9/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss Tangerine and journal 9; assign journal entry expansion
- Homework Assignments for 11/14/2022: complete information literacy assignment by 2 p.m. on 11/14/2022; work on your journal entry expansion
Week 12
Monday 11/14/2022
- In-Class Activities: meet in LL305 for library instruction
- Homework Assignments for 11/16/2022: post a draft of your journal entry expansion on Canvas by 2 p.m. on 11/16/2022
- In-Class Activities: peer workshops on journal entry expansion
- Homework Assignments for 11/28/2022: post your revised journal entry expansion on Canvas by 2 p.m. on 11/28/2022; read articles on Sadie Benning (optional)*
Week 13
Monday 11/28/2022
- In-Class Activities: debrief film journal expansion; watch and discuss Sadie Benning's work; assign creative project and presentation
- Homework Assignments for 11/30/2022: work on your creative project and presentation
- In-Class Activities: work on creative project and presentation
- Homework Assignments for 12/5/2022: work on your creative project and presentation
Week 14
Monday 12/5/2022
- In-Class Activities: work on creative project and presentation; course debrief
- Homework Assignments for 12/7/2022: work on your creative project and presentation
- In-Class Activities: course evaluations; work on your creative project and presentation
- Homework Assignments for 12/12/2022: post your video on Canvas by 1 p.m. on 12/12/2022; post your optional revision of your short paper or film journal expansion on Canvas by 1 p.m. on 12/12/2022
Final Exam: Monday, 12/12/2022, 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m.
- Class queer film festival and end of semester celebration!
Thanks to Tomás F. Crowder-Taraborrelli and Aneil Rallin for ideas for and feedback on this syllabus.