How race is constructed onscreen? And how have filmmakers of color challenged, transformed, and deconstructed racial logics, pushing back against stereotypes and limits? This course examines many genres of film, including science fiction, horror, comedy, superhero franchises, and documentary. By grouping films by genre, we will both come to understand generic conventions and innovations—ways in which artists of color have twisted, played with, and exploded genres to create powerful testaments to their creativity and resistance. Using film as our lens, we will examine racial structures, decoloniality, and gender in the U.S. and beyond, paying special attention to the relationships between racialized groups, including Black, Asian, and Indigenous, and Latinx perspectives.
Sample films:
- Watermelon Woman (1997)
- Surname Viet, Given Name Nam (1989)
- Black Panther (2018)
- The Host (2006)
- Mississippi Masala (1992)
- Sleep Dealer (2008)
Sample texts:
- bell hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators”
- Trinh T. Minh-ha, The Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender, and Cultural Politics
- Martine Sims, “The Mundane Afro-futurist Manifesto”
- Lisa Lowe, The Intimacies of Four Continents
- Hortense Spillers, “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book”
Abigail Jinju Lee 