According to UCLA's 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report, 93% percent of senior executive positions in Hollywood are held by white people and 80% by men. Women of color feminist filmmaking imagines futures for people who fight patriarchy without the shield of whiteness. This course introduces students to some of the major films and theories in U.S. women of color feminist thinking, filmmaking, and artmaking from the 1970s to the present. We will not engage with material that merely depicts or represents women of color as objects of study. Instead, we’ll read essays and view films that theorize the aesthetic, social, and political differences made by various WOC perspectives.
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to...
- Provide a working definition of women of color feminism; narrate its origins; and explain the difference it has made in North American theorizing, artmaking, and political organizing.
- Sketch the various contributions of queer, trans, Black, Chicanx, Latinx, Asian American, and/or Indigenous thinkers, activists, and artists to women of color feminisms.
- Read, interpret, and argue with scholarly essays.
- Produce analyses of films that take into account aesthetics, politics, and history.
Course Requirements:
Expected weekly workload: read 1 scholarly article (20-40 pages); view 1 film (90mins to 2 hours); write a short response (250 words); and engage with your peers in class discussion. There is a 4-5 page midterm paper and an 8-10 page final paper.
Intended Audience:
Sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in gaining familiarity with women of color feminist thought, filmmaking, and art.
Class Format:
Lecture/discussion twice a week and weekly at-home screenings.