GNDR 300VV - Sex on Film

Institution:

Westminster College (Salt Lake City)

Subject:

Gender Studies

Description:

This course aims to study the evolution of sex in mainstream films through a selection of U.S. films from the late 1920s to our present time. We begin with the pre-code Hollywood era. These films were made between the introduction of sound and the adoption and enforcement of the Motion Picture Guidelines, better known as the Hayes Code, which censored overt depictions of sex, illegal drug use and extreme violence. The films chosen from this period explore strong female characters whose sexuality and violent behavior are seen as heroic. This course then moves on to the sexploitation films of the 1960s. Filled with gratuitous nudity and outrageous plots, these films both embrace and abuse the ideology of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s. Although emerging at around the same time as Sexploitation films, the Golden Age of Porn depicts non-simulated sex acts on film. These films were shown across the U.S. in regular movie theaters. Norman Mailer described this period in American film as "living in a world between crime and art." This brief, and some would argue, magical moment in the American film industry lasted from 1972 until 1975 when the US Supreme Court began to effectively crack down on "obscene films". With the law hot on their tracks and the mass-market effect of the VCR, non-simulated sex films went underground. This course ends with the recent turn towards non-simulated sex on films of the last ten years. The films selected for this section of the course bring together the fearless approach to sexuality of the pre-code era, the fun, and, in some cases, exploitative nature of Sexploitation and the graphic depiction of the Golden Age of Porn. One of the goals of this course is to explore what sex on film can teach us about social conventions in relationship to law, science, politics and religion. The pedagogical and theoretical approach of this course is through a feminist perspective and looks at how feminists discuss sex on film. Some feminists take a militant stance that sex on film-regardless of its artistic qualities-are always misogynistic. But there are other feminists who believe that there is value (and dare I say virtue) in depicting simulated and non-simulated sex on films. This point of conflict-what is the social/artistic/political worth/meaning of sex-will fuel many of our conversations. Please note that most of these films have been banned (at one time or another) and, in some cases, the filmmakers and actresses/actors arrested due to obscenity laws in the U.S. and abroad.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.westminstercollege.edu

Phone Number:

(801) 484-7651

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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