2024/25

As well as introducing some of the particularities of gender relations and their representation in a French socio-historical and especially media context since the 1970s, this module will consider theoretical conceptualisations of gender and its representation, often drawing on French and Continental thought, in conjunction with individual audiovisual texts. Areas of thought whose influence will be examined include psychoanalysis, surrealism and embodied experience, via the feminist writings of Laura Mulvey (following Jacques Lacan); Julia Kristeva; Hélène Cixous; Judith Butler and Rosi Braidotti. Films include both auteur and more popular fare and also allow us to trace historical developments in the dominance of different schools of thought. A running theme will be putting French and more broadly European ideas into dialogue with post-1980s Anglo-American ‘cultural studies’ contributions to scholarly ideas about representing gender, including after reading week through considering a combination of mass-globally circulated information media and film and television series, as we move to examining very recent developments in French media’s negotiation of ‘legitimate’ gender norms.