Women and Media SP2012: Force, Strength, and Power: Project about Comic Books and Such

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Force, Strength, and Power: Project about Comic Books and Such

My project is a video essay exploring the relationship between women as consumers and the comic book industry. I seek to answer the question of why female readers make up a remarkably small percentage of comic book audiences, and explore ways that this might be changed. Likewise, I examine why the comic book, and the genre of storytelling associated with it, can be a positive influence for women, if handled responsibly. My goal in this project is to not only identify existing problems within the representation of female characters that might isolate female audiences, but also to identify reasons that the medium and genre are worth building on and improving rather than dismissing.

https://vimeo.com/42041168

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQTixczGxcI

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FINAL PROJECTS
Please be prepared to present your projects to the class in approximately 5-7 minute presentations. Visuals are a must. Feel free to bring physical props and handouts if appropriate.

**You must create a POST for your final project - a link to your project, a summary, images and or videos. You will present using/from your post - this will be much easier.

GOOD LUCK!!

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Due 5/5
NO READINGS DUE
- review readings that were due 4/28

EDIT Posts 4 and 5 by Wednesday 9am. Be sure you have included references to the readings and have properly cited all of your sources. I will be looking for this and will deduct heavily for not including refs to the readings.

***WORK ON YOUR FINAL PROJECTS!!

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Due 4/28
Draft Bibliography/Sources list for final project due - list of sources as well as a brief update on the project must be printed and handed in to me 4/28

Post 5 Due
Choose and research a female film director/screenwriter and a single work or several works. Describe their approach to film making and explain their role as auteur. Using references to the readings and references to your own research (be sure to cite) explain the work, especially as it relates to auteur theory. How does the filmmaker explain their work and their process? How are the works and filmmakers received? How are they critiqued? Every post must have a short bibliography/works sited. You must include at least 2 additional sources with your post. If possible include links to the readings or sources, if not list them properly in your works cited.

Veiled Threat by Arwa Aburawa Bitch Magazine
http://bitchmagazine.org/article/veiled-threat

The Feminist Evolution ArtNews December 2009
http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2800&current=True

Where the Great Women Artists are Now
Interview with Linda Nochlin Art News February 2007
http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2216

Interview with Cat Mazza
We-Make-Money-Not-Art
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/01/how-and-when-did-you.php

***an additional reading may be emailed to you from Sharon De La Cruz in the coming days. It will also be posted here. Please keep a look out.

**We will have a visitor on 4/28 Video artist and painter - Sharon De La Cruz.

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MIDTERM MEETINGS in HN515 Monday 4/2 and Wednesday 4/4 Schedule here.

**ENJOY YOUR SPRING BREAK!! **

Due 4/21
POST 4
Using references to the readings due for class, convey an understanding of women and minorities in the media industry. Research and discuss an alternative media organization or media source that is outside the mainstream message we have critiqued. Concentrate on messages by or for women specifically. The example can be local, national or international. Look to independent media in developing nations as well for interesting and inspiring examples. You can also choose to concentrate on a specific person. Be sure to explain the publication, film, project or online source in depth, explain it's origins and why it is successful or necessary as an alternative media source. What is the role of gender in this story?

You can choose to concentrate on news media, independent film or a number of new media examples. Be original, dig. Find something inspiring that we need to know about - if we don't already.

5+ paragraphs. Please do extensive research and cite your findings appropriately.

READINGS on Blackboard:
Introduction "Making Movie Magic" from Reel to Real by bell hooks
"Author/Autor: Feminist Literary Theory and Feminist Film" by Maggie Humm
"Debra Zimmerman and Women Make Movies" by Judith Redding and Victoria A. Brownworth

Please look at the Women Make Movies websitehttp://www.wmm.com/

*Draft Bibliography for final project due 4/28*

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Due 3/31
On Black board:
bell hooks - The Will to Change - 2 chapters:Understanding Patriarchy and Feminist Manhood and Pop Culture.

Melissa Harris-Perry - Sister Citizen - Crooked Room

Online:
Highlighting Girls in Youth Media
As practitioners in youth media, we have the opportunity to support the long-term development of girls.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2009/08/highlighting_girls_in_youth_me.html

Media Savvy Arab Girls Respond to the Mainstream
How alternative youth media can and must respond to mainstream news.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2007/11/media_savvy_arab_girls_respond.html

Due 3/24
1 page Project Proposal for final projects printed and handed in. Explain/describe the content of your project and the medium you will use to create it. Use visuals if necessary: sketches, still images etc. Also include possible resources you will use (a full bibliography will be required later.)

The Power and Impact of Gender-Specific Media Literacy
It is up to the field as a whole to help students critique media, avoid stereotypes, and act out new identities.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2009/08/highlighting_girls_in_youth_me.html

Explorers of Exchange: Girls Traverse the Digital Divide
Girls from the Lower East Side use digital photography to define global exchange with girls in Chiapas, Mexico.
http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2007/10/explorers_of_exchange_girls_tr.html

FreePress Media Ownership Policy
http://freepress.net/policy/ownership

Media Ownership: Impact on Minority Ownership and Localism
http://womensmediacenter.com/blog/2007/02/media-ownership-impact-on-minority-ownership-and-localism/

Media Ownership Fact Sheet - NOW
http://www.now.org/issues/media/women_in_media_facts.html"

Diversity in Media Ownership & Employment
http://www.civilrights.org/media/ownership/

WATCH:
Reel Girls Media Consolidation
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=reelgrrls#play/uploads/27/VZ01mj0IdTQ

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Due 3/17
READINGS:
The Rise of the Female Anchor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/weekinreview/06stanley.html

Rachael Papers
http://issuu.com/bitchmagazine/docs/the_rachel_papers/3?mode=embed&documentId=090225195412-a61ca4d3a7b34c879210801d39c49c40&layout=white

Broadcast News: When Women Become Two out of Three
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/blog/entry/broadcast-news-when-women-become-two-out-of-three

Article on Blackboard:
Women in Broadcasting - Barbara Murray Eddings

Women in Media fact sheet
http://www.now.org/issues/media/women_in_media_facts.html

2 COMMENTS on post 3

****NO CLASS 3/3
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Due 3/10
Post 3
Using all of your readings, class discussions and critiques of advertising images and the sexism, racism and power hierarchies found in so many of these, find or construct an alternative to these mainstream images and explain why it is different. Carefully draw out advertising strategies and goals and provide alternative paths for the industry or alternative anti-advertising messages.

5-6 paragraphs. Include citations of the readings in your post, at least one image and links to relevant resources.

Readings
1.Susan Bordo -- "Hunger as Ideology" from Unbearable Weight
2.Maggie Wykes/Barrie Gunter --"Conclusion" from The Media and Body Image
3.Naomi Wolf -- "Culture" from The Beauty Myth

4.online: Media's Effect On Girls: Body Image And Gender Identity http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_mediaeffect.shtml
from National Institute of Media and the Family

Final project topics - simple explanation of medium and topic for final projects filled out on a sheet in class.

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Due 2/25

*NO POST DUE
READINGS DUE (on Blackboard):
Advertising, Magazines and Women
4 short essays from Gender Race and Class in Media
-Sex Lies and Advertising - Gloria Steinem Ms. Magazine
-Beauty and the Beast of Advertising - Jean Kilbourne
-Reading Images Critically - Douglas Kellner
-Commodity Lesbianism - Danae Clark

one essay from Provocateur -Anthony Cortese - Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads Sexism in Advertising

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Due 2/18
POST 2 - On ways of seeing/viewing

Please answer the following questions based on your readings and class discussion. Use your own experiences and realizations to help illustrate your understanding of the material - cite from the readings.

What is the male gaze and why is it a pervasive form of vision in popular culture? Give illustrative examples in a variety of media. What is the oppositional gaze and why (as described by bell hooks) has it developed? Give examples. How have you come to understand these structures and in what ways has this understanding changed your views about various media examples and of your own identity and role in these structures?

5-6 paragraphs. Include citations of the readings in your post.

READINGS: on Blackboard

-Introduction to Where the Girls Are - Susan Douglas
-"The More You Subtract The More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size" by Jean Kilbourne

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Due 2/4 and 2/11
Post 1 on the class blog: Who do you think you are?
Please create a blog post answering this question. Be sure to include your role in media consumption, critique and/or media making. You must include at least one link and one image. 2 pararaphs

READINGS: available on the Blackboard Site in folder "Due 2/4" - let me know immediately if you have trouble accessing them.
John Berger - Ways of Seeing
Laura Mulvey - Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema
bell hooks - The Oppositional Gaze
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Link to syllabus

Link to screenings online

***Readings are on the class Blackboard site.***
Please be sure you have access to the Blackboard site and can see the course materials folder.

Discussion guidelines

The course material and discussions can often be provocative and challenging. We must therefore be careful to be respectful of each other and all of our viewpoints. No student shall ever be made to feel uncomfortable because of race, gender, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

We must come to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings!! Please keep discussions focused on the readings and class materials and keep examples relevant and appropriate. If you have not done the readings you are not to participate in the discussion.

Please see this great list of classroom discussion guidelines for more guidance. It is also helpful that everyone in the course reviews several key terms that are crucial to the course material. Please review this important list of terms.