The Body in Film and other Media

In this seminar, we will consider the body on screen as well as the body before the screen i.e. the spectator but also the profilmic body of the actor to examine corporeal performance and reception. The dancing body, the comic body, dead and live bodies, the monstrous body, the body in pain, the virtual body all raise questions about embodiment, liveness, and performance. We will read the body in audiovisual culture through an engagement with affect theory, focusing on the labor of performance, the construction of stardom, spatial and temporal configurations of the performing body, and the production of affect and sensation in the spectating body. Through a discussion of make-up, fashion, the labor of producing the idealized star body from the meat-and-bones body of the actor, or body genres where the spectator's body is beside itself with sexual pleasure, fear and terror, or overpowering sadness, we will inquire into ideologies of discipline and desire that undergird mediatized bodies. No prior engagement with film studies is required. Students are encouraged to write seminar papers that build on current research interests.NOTE: Instructor consent required for undergraduate students (only seniors may enroll). Please contact the instructor for permission to enroll if you're an undergraduate senior.