107-037 Film and the Body

Formerly available as 111-251/351. Students who have completed 111-251 or 111-351 Theorising the Body in Australia are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually 12.5 points of first-year cinema studies, see Prerequisites, or first-year gender studies, see Prerequisites.

This course examines representations of the body in film and critical visual theory. It explores the relationship between desire, fantasy and the body as well as different forms of the body such as the macho, queer, S & M, tattooed, erotic, suffering, cyborg, abject and post-human body. Students should become familiar with the history and origins of the various body forms in Hollywood and in a range of other cinematic traditions. They should also be familiar with theories of the body in writing about cinema and have an understanding of debates surrounding the body in film.

A class paper, an essay and a take-home examination totalling 4000 words.