170213 UE Exercise Course "Body Practices and Gender Presentations" (2025S)

Inhalt
Dystopias, apocalypse, post-apocalypse fiction and cyberpunk all meet within the genre of climate fiction. How we imagine the future has changed significantly and it reflects our attitude and ideology with regards to technological progress. The effects of climate change and aggressive capitalism are reoccurring themes we will be discussing through different film examples. Other topics we will address include notions of identity and technophobia as well as representations of the female body. It has often been portrayed as the idealised salvation of humanity in its reproductive capacity and therefore also frequently controlled in dystopian and climate fiction narratives (e.g. Mad Max: Fury Road, Children of Men, The Handmaid’s Tale). We will examine seminal films (e.g. Blade Runner) and will cover different genres, such as animation film (examples from Hayao Miyazaki) and film making for television. Through the analysis of our case studies we will approach different theories, including posthumanism and ecofeminism.

Ziele
Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
-Have developed more general film and media analysis skills, in particular, regarding genre.
-Have developed their ability to discuss films in a written and oral manner through presentations, in-class discussions and sequence analyses.
-Have experience in critical analysis of films using different theoretical approaches such as posthumanism and feminist theory.

Methoden
Interactive lectures and seminars that include film screenings, sequence analyses and group discussions, so that students are encouraged to participate and develop confidence in building up and expressing their critical thinking. Students are given feedback which they can then incorporate in their assignments, which reinforces their analytical skills and pursuing their own research.