WGSS 398
Feminist and Queer Horror Films Spring 2024
Division II

Class Details

This course focuses on pairing theoretical readings with a variety of horror films with feminist or queer themes. Many tropes are associated with this genre – “the final girl” in slasher movies, “the transvestite murderer,” femme lesbian vampires, supernatural BDSM figures, vampires as allegories for HIV/AIDS, werewolves as metaphors for FTM gender transitions or puberty, lonely mothers in creaky houses as unreliable narrators, Satanic spawn, and creepy long-haired girls. Some films reinforce gender stereotypes while others snap on more explicitly feminist and queer lenses. This course functions as a survey of many different genres, introducing students to classic 1970s films and working up to the present day and we will learn how these tropes developed and then were subverted by more modern day films such as those by A24 Studies and the new renaissance Black in horror, etc. Most films will focus on the US, with some notable exceptions in Japan, Spain, and elsewhere globally. There will be graphic content. You must be 18 or over to take this class.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 15
Class#: 3736
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: Class participation, short reflection papers, Marco Polo video posts, a 10 page final paper focused on exploring one trope in various films (preferably not covered in class.)
Prerequisites: None. Prior WGSS courses will be helpful.
Enrollment Preferences: Stage 1 is a statement of interest form; Stage 2 will be a very brief interview. There is NO preference by major or class year.
Distributions: Division II
Attributes: WGSS Racial Sexual + Cultural Diversity Courses

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