This seminar provides a basic survey of theories and methods to analyze sounds and images as they materialize across different media. We will test a number of widely used concepts and tools, ranging from compositional interpretation to discourse analysis. We will pay particular attention to how different methods are being put to practice in feminist and queer media studies, and will ask how they account for mediated representations and performances of gender and sexuality. We will use Gillian Rose’s textbook Visual Methodologies (London: Sage 2012), six chapters of which students will prepare (i.e. read carefully) at home, before we discuss them together in class. Students will have the opportunity to develop practical skills: in classroom meetings, we will screen films and videos to analyze them together, using the newly acquired methodological tools and concepts. Classroom language (reading, discussion, audiovisuals, presentations, portfolios) is English.

Attendance is mandatory. Grades will be calculated according to: preparation of assigned reading, participation in class, a presentation, and six short papers (ca. 6000 characters / 1000 words each) addressing the reading material and the films/video screened in class. Papers are due February 19, 2017.

Registration: in person, at our first class meeting on October 12, 2016.