128110 VO Popular and Media Cultures VO / Cultural Studies - MA M01 (2024W)

Women have written and made films since the invention of cinema itself in all the genres the art form offers. They have been inventors and creators as well as actors and viewers. Yet their work is usually (though unsurprisingly) misrepresented in the film canon. Five films by female directors are our starting point for an excursion into the many films made by female directors – the suspenseful “The Bigamist” (1953) by Ida Lupino, the most prominent female filmmaker working in the Hollywood studio system, Barbara Loden, creating a modern road movie in ”Wanda” (1970), Susan Seidelmans rebellious comedy ”Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985) as well as Jamie Babbits queer teen comedy ”But I'm a Cheerleader” (1999) have all stood out as examples of women's interventions into a patriarchally structured industry, as did Kitty Greens “The Assistant,” a quiet and scary drama about #metoo. As this is a lecture series, it will feature a number of researchers and practicioners in this context. Together with our guests and in Q&A's after the film screenings at Gartenbau Kino, we will talk about exclusion strategies that are firmly in place, about camera work and archive work as well as curative practices--and we celebrate women's filmmaking over the decades. Each guest lecture will also provide ample space for discussion and will include one mandatory text (10-30 pages) relevant to the topic (all texts will be provided on Moodle).

Confirmed speakers include: PD Dr. Andrea Braidt (Dept. of Theater, Film, and Media Studies); Dr. Katharina Wiedlack; Djamila Grandits (curator); Dr. Martina Pfeiler; Dr. James Forsher.

Goals: Students gain a wide-ranging knowledge about the involvement of women in different areas and eras of American (sometimes transatlantic, sometimes with Austrian examples) filmmaking, their difficulties and challenges as well as accomplishments through different historical periods and contexts, from the silent era to the studio system to New Hollywood and contemporary film, including race- and gender-critical perspectives. They also learn how to conduct a research-based analysis of exemplary films.