124220 SE Cultural and Media Studies Seminar (2020S)

Cross-dressing was first depicted in silent cinema in the 1910s. It is still frequently used in film for comedic purposes, inevitably reinforcing the gender binary. Yet a number of films portray cross-dressing as a part of a more complex issue – transgenderism. In such contexts, cross-dressing, from a merely comedic device, turns into a serious sociopolitical problem that film often deals with raising the questions of inequality, rejection, and trauma. Beginning with the issue of cross-dressing, we will examine the differences in depicting a cross-dressed woman and a cross-dressed man. We will then focus on cinematic portrayals of transgenderism, trying to understand why transgenderism is usually displayed as a traumatic experience. The course is designed to analyze the aesthetics of gender transformation through re/cross-dressing, changing one’s hairstyle, gait, and behavior, thus adjusting oneself to various conventional social standards of femininity and masculinity. Additionally, we will discuss to what extent cross-dressing and transgenderism are the results of “gender confusion,” and see who is really “confused” – an individual or society – and why this still happens today.