SCHEDULE FOR WS 410: SEX, LIES & MEDIA

FALL 2006

Instructor	Sheena Malhotra, Ph.D.
Phone	818-677-7217
email	sheena.malhotra@csun.edu
Class Time	Mondays 4:20 – 6:50 p.m.

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE

T = Text

R = Reader

September 11^th: Introduction tocourse.

Ellen

· T #2 Croteau & Hoynes: The New Media Giants.

· T #5: James Lull: Hegemony

PRESENT CONSTRUCTIONS

Constructing Sexuality

September 18^th: Watch Brokeback Mountain & TransAmerica/The Journey

before next class’ meeting.

Ally McBeal – in class

Discussion of Ellen/Ally McBeal episodes & the films

· R: Tamsin Spargo – Foucault and queer theory … pp. 3-33.

· T #10: Diane Raymond: Popular Culture and Queer Representation

· T #57: Susan J. Hubert: What’s wrong with this picture? The politics of

Ellen’s Coming Out Party.

Constructing The Masculine

September 25^th: Meet in the ONLINE CHAT ROOM @ 4:30 p.m.

Watch Terminator before class.

Discussion on masculinity & clips from Terminator

· R: Jonathan Goldberg – Recalling Totalities. pp. 179-193

· R: John Fiske – Some television, some topics, and some terminology

• Due: Paper #1 - Sexualities
• Turnitin.com
• Turnitin.com instructions

October 2^nd : Watch Gladiator and Matrix before class. Discussion of gender role

constructions/representation & media hegemony.. Clips from Matrix.

· T #34: Jackson Katz – Advertising & violent white masculinity

· R: Storey – Television … pp. 9-27.

· R: Gladiator reviews

· R: Matrix reviews

2^nd part of class time = Planning for the “film series on sexualities”

Constructing The Feminine

October 9^th: Romance Novels and Soaps.

Watch Bend it like Beckham and Moulin Rouge before class

Discussion of how the feminine is constructed + clips from Bend it…

· T #44: John Fiske – Gendered television

· T #45: Deborah Rogers – Daze of our lives

· T #6: Janice Radway – Women read the romance

· R: Marilyn Lowery – The traditional romance formula

· R: review of Bend it like Beckham

October 16^th: MTV & Ads. Watch Frida before class.

Watch Videos - Dreamworlds/ Still killing us softly

· R: A.A. Berger – Maiden with the snake

· T #15: Gloria Steinem – Sex, lies and advertising

· T #10: Sut Jhally – Image-Based culture

· T #29: Wilson II & Gutierrez – Advertising and People of Color

· T#26: Jean Kilbourne – The more you subtract, the more you add.

· R: Reviews of Frida

Commodifying Constructions

October 23^rd: Pornography and Erotica + Commodification of the female body

Watch Patently Offensive – a documentary in class

· T # 39: Karen Boyle: The Pornography Debates: Beyond Cause and Effect

· R: Evelina Giobbe – Surviving commercial sexual exploitation

· R: CatherineMcKinnon- Defamation and discrimination – Only Words

· R: Susan Bordo – Reading the slender body

· R: Ann Russo – Stories of Survival, Stories of Resistance

• Due: Paper #2 - Constructions of Masculinity/Femininity
• Turnitin.com
• Turnitin.com instructions
  
  

Constructing Whiteness/Constructing The ‘Other’

October 30^th: Discussion on Whiteness & the racial “Other” + Clips from Crash

Please watch A Time to Kill and Crash before class.

· R: Peggy McIntosh – White privilege and Male privilege

· R: bell hooks – Selling hot pussy

· T #8: Stuart Hall – The whites of their eyes

· T #11: Jan Pieterse – White Negroes

November 6^th: Mid-Term Project Presentations

ALTERNATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS?

November 13^th : Meet in the ONLINE CHAT ROOM @ 4:30 p.m.

Watch The Silence of the Lambs before class.

Start watching Fire in class.

· R: Greg Garrett – Objecting to objectification

· R: Judith Halberstam – Posthuman gender

• Due: Paper #3 - Constructions of Race/Class
• Turnitin.com
• Turnitin.com instructions

November 20^th: ONLINE EXAM

The online exam will be based on all the readings assigned for this class as well as on all in-class discussions and materials presented. The exam will consist of a variety of questions that allow you to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts.

November 27^th : Alternative Media Choices. Watch Real Women Have Curves before class

In class: Fire

· R: Malhotra & Sorrells - A new Fire in an old tradition

· R: Sujata Moorti - Enflamed Passions

· R: Review of Real Women Have Curves

December 4^th : Alternative media choices. Watch Million Dollar Baby before class

Watch Righteous Babes + clips from Million Dollar Baby

· T # 69: Rhona O. Bautista – Staking their claim. Women, Electronic Networking and Training in Asia .

December 11^th : Final Presentations begin

December 18^th : Final Presentations finish

(during finals week, if not completed the week before)

Link to Class Syllabus

Link to Class Home