Bad Girls: Postfeminism and Popular Culture
Schedule
INTRODUCTION: Bad Girls Who Are They? Who Are They Not?
January 4
1 - Bad girls: today and yesterday (Introduction)
2 - (Overview of course: assignments, expectations, etc.)
January 6
3 - History of the Bad Girl
HEROINES: AMAZONS, IDOLS AND ROLE MODELS
January 11
1-Cybergrrls, Webgrrls, Net Chicks and Grrl zines (Room 2)
Preparation: search and surf the web for bad girls. Notice the kinds of hits you get.
Browse the sites on the links page under "bad girls pages" and "grrl zines."
2- Comic book heroines
Preparation: Research comic book shops (your experience in them as well as the comics themselves. Talk with the people there and ask them about what they know--they're invaluable sources of information.) Browse and pick up ones that interest you. Try Wonder Woman, Xena, Tank Girl (if you can find it), Barb Wire (if you can find it), Kabuki, Shi, Lady Death, any Vertigo ones, or any others that draw your interest. Also look at the corresponding sites on the links page. (Leave the Mangas until later in the term).
LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX
January 13
3- Sex and Subversion: Express Yourself?
Preparation:
-read Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality (selections in the course booklet)
-look at Madonna's lyrics , music videos and if you haven't seen it, take a look at Truth or Dare.
The F Word: Feminism, Third Wave Feminism, and Postfeminism
January 18
1, 2- Feminism v. Third Wave Feminism
Preparation: - read Naomi Wolf's Fire With Fire (concentrate on Parts III and IV ) and selections from Camille Paglia's Vamps and Tramps (in course booklet)
January 20
3 - Postfeminism: After? Beyond? Further?
Preparation: read the articles indicated on the links page.
January 25
Position Paper Due
THE FEMME FATALE AND FILM NOIRE
1- Film Noire: History
2- Women Surviving Film Noire
Preparation: watch The Last Seduction
January 27
WOMEN AND VIOLENCE: I
3- Violence and Murder
Preparation: watch The Last Seduction (cont'd) and read Pearson Chapters 1, 2, 5, 7
BOSUM BUDDIES
February 1
1, 2 - Film Noir With a Twist: transgressing gender and genre
Preparation: watch Bound
February 3
3 - Buxom Buddies
Preparation: watch Xena, Warrior Princess
February 8
1- Lesbian Fiction
Preparation: read handout
The T Word: Popular Culture Theory and Theories of Reading
2-What is Popular Culture? Popular culture, mainstream culture, subcultures
Preparation: read handouts and links TBA
February 10
3-Resistance and Subversion in Reading and Writing: roles roles of reader, writer, actor, director; strategies of mimicry, appropriation
Preparation: read handouts and links TBA
GIRL GROUPS
February 15
1st Draft Essay Due
1, 2 - Girl Gangs: Fiction
Preparation: Read novel Foxfire
Supplementary Film: Girls Town
February 17
3-Girl Gangs: Real Life: Girl Gangs in the schools and on the streets
Preparation: Read articles listed on web page TBA
STUDY BREAK: February 22, 24
March 1
1, 2 - Women in Prison
Preparation: Foxfire (cont'd) as well as Pearson's Chapters 8, 9
Women and Violence: II
March 3
Book Review Due
3- The Other Side: Violence Against Women
Preparation: read articles listed on web TBA
March 8
1, 2- All Girl Groups
Preparation: listen to TBA groups.
THE BODY
March 10
3-What's a bad girl body? Piercings, tatooings, bodybuilding and cyborgs
Preparation: read Elizabeth Grosz article in booklet, and links on web TBA.
SCI FI, Punk and Cyberpunk
March 15
Final Draft of Essay Due
1- From Sci Fi to Cyberpunk: history
2 -Cyberpunk
Preparation: Read TBA (if you can, also read Gibson's Neuromancer)
March 17
3 - From Punk to Grrls
Preparation: listen to as many as punk and grrl bands as possible; eg. Kim Gordon, Bikini Kill, Riot Grrrl, Tribe 8, Courtney Love.
March 22
1, 2-Sci Fi and Postmodernism
Preparation: watch Aeon Flux
March 24
3- Sci Fi: The Japanese Influence: Japanamation and mangas
Preparation: TBA
March 29
1-Sci Fi and Horror
Preparation: watch Aliens
2-Bad girls and mothers
Preparation: watch Aliens
March 31
3 - Real Life Horror:
Real Life Bad Mothers
Preparation: read Pearson's Chapters 3, 4
Mass Murderers
Preparation: read Pearson's Chapter 6
ODDS AND ENDS
April 5
1- Video Games, Literature, and anything else
2-Final presentation of projects
April 7
3- REVIEW
EXAM: Date TBA
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