AAAS 32.01 Race and Gender in American Film
This course is an introduction to the history of race and gender in American film. These fundamental social constructs in American life have been central to the development of American film narrative from the beginnings of cinema at the turn of the twentieth century. In turn, American films have profoundly shaped the ways that we think about race and gender and racialized and gendered beings. We will analyze the shifting and situational meanings of race and gender throughout the twentieth century, and in particular, how they have been influenced by the forces of history, including wars, economic depressions, and social movements. While we will focus our attention on Hollywood cinema of the “golden age”, the period from the 1920s-1960, we will also spend significant time considering American independent cinema and the post-classical period of filmmaking from the 1960s to the present. In our consideration of race and racialized peoples, we will include African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos. Our discussions of gender will be expansive to include not just women and femininity, but men and masculinity as well.
Cross Listed Courses
FILM 47.24 LATS 25