Sexualities in Contemporary Spanish Cinema

Spanish 4330.001: Sexualities in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. W 3:30-6:20pm LANG 204. Fall 2010, UNT Dr. Cristina Sánchez-Conejero. [email protected]

SEXUALITIES IN CONTEMPORARY SPANISH CINEMA Required materials:

Critical articles: “Playgrounds of Desire: Almodóvar, Fetishism, and the male Ideal Ego” by Bruce Williams; “(De)Constructing and (Re)Negotiating Identities: (Re)Dressing for Carnival in Fernando Trueba’s Belle Epoque” by Chad Gasta; “La construcción del personaje en La muerte de Mikel” by Alfredo Martínez Expósito; “Pedagogy and Pornography: Confronting the Sexually Explicit in Spanish Cinema” by Marie Barbieri; “Ruling Sexuality: The Political Legitimacy of Isabel of Castile” by Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt; “De Vacas a Lucía y el sexo” by Javier Domínguez-García; “La máscara del género en Todo sobre mi madre” by Manuel Pérez Baena; “Ritual de sexo, amor y muerte en Hable con ella de Pedro Almodóvar” by Hiber Conteris.

English/Spanish, Spanish/English dictionary.

Course objectives: In this course we will study the different ways sexualities are portrayed in 20th-21st Century Spanish Cinema. We will carry out this study through a socio-historical and critical approach. The main objective is 1) to provide students with a general overview of sexualities representations in contemporary Spanish Cinema and 2) to promote a critical analysis of these cultural topics among the students.

Week 1: Sept. 1 Franco and Sexuality in Spain. Sex and the Postmodern Revolution. Pedro Almodóvar.

Week 2: Sept. 8 Laberintos de pasiones (1982) by Pedro Almodóvar. * “Playgrounds of Desire: Almodóvar, Fetishism, and the Male Ideal Ego” by Bruce Williams.

Week 3: Sept. 15 QUIZ #1. Sexualities in Spain II Republic. Fernando Trueba.

Week 4: Sept. 22 ESSAY #1 DUE. Belle Epoque (1992) by Fernando Trueba. * “(De)Constructing and (Re)Negotiating Identities: (Re)Dressing for Carnival in Fernando Trueba’s Belle Epoque” by Chad Gasta.

Week 5: Sept. 29 Sex, Nation and Personal Identity. Imanol Uribe. La muerte de Mikel (1984) by Imanol Uribe.

Week 6: Oct. 6 QUIZ #2. La muerte de Mikel (1984) by Imanol Uribe. * “La construcción del personaje en La muerte de Mikel” by Alfredo Martínez Expósito.

Week 7: Oct. 13 MIDTERM EXAM. Sex and the Iberian macho. Bigas Luna.

Week 8: Oct. 20 ESSAY #2 DUE. Huevos de oro (1993) by Bigas Luna.* “Pedagogy and Pornography: Confronting the Sexually Explicit in Spanish Cinema” by Marie Barbieri.

Week 9: Oct. 27 Huevos de oro (1993) by Bigas Luna. Sex, Social Class and Politics. Vicente Aranda.

Week 10: Nov. 3 Juana la loca (2001) by Vicente Aranda.* ”Ruling Sexuality: The Political Legitimacy of Isabel of Castile” by Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt.

Week 11: Nov. 10 QUIZ #3. Sex and Eroticism. Julio Médem.

Week 12: Nov. 17 ESSAY #3 DUE. Lucía y el sexo (2002) by Julio Médem. * “De Vacas a Lucía y el sexo” by Javier Domínguez-García.

Week 13: Nov. 24 ESSAY #4 DUE. Sex, Gender and Feminism.Todo sobre mi madre (1998) by Pedro Almodóvar.

1 Spanish 4330.001: Sexualities in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. W 3:30-6:20pm LANG 204. Fall 2010, UNT Dr. Cristina Sánchez-Conejero. [email protected]

Week 14: Dec. 1 QUIZ #4. Todo sobre mi madre (1998) by Pedro Almodóvar. * “La máscara del género en Todo sobre mi madre” by Manuel Pérez Baena. Sex, Pathology and Crime.

Week 15: Dec. 8 Hable con ella (2003) by Pedro Almodóvar. * “Ritual de sexo, amor y muerte en Hable con ella de Pedro Almodóvar” by Hiber Conteris. *FINAL EXAM: please read below.

COURSE BREAKDOWN

20%  Quizzes (4). On Sept. 15 (quiz #1), Oct. 6 (quiz #2), Nov. 10 (quiz #3), and Dec. 1 (quiz #4). Your lowest grade will be dropped.

20%  Essays (4): The student will write a summary of these critical articles including an introduction, discussion of main ideas, and a conclusion: 1) “Playgrounds of Desire…”for essay #1; 2) “La construcción del personaje...” for essay #2; 3) ”Ruling Sexuality…” for essay #3; 4) “De Vacas a ...” for essay #4.

*Please notice: all essays must be original (not copied from any printed source or the internet), 200-400 words (essays longer or shorter will be penalized: -1pt. for every 10 words difference) typed, double spaced, font Times New Roman 12. Please include your full name, essay number and title on the header.

10%  Student performance: active and constructive participation in class. Lack of participation or non-constructive participation will be penalized.

A 90.0+ B 80.0+ C 70.0+ D 60.0+ The student participates The student participates The student participates The student seldom constructively every day and constructively often, but not constructively sometimes, but participates constructively often every day not often and not every day

20%  Midterm exam (Oct. 13). The Midterm exam includes everything covered in class from the first day until Oct. 6 included. The exam will include ID questions based on class notes on the lectures delivered by professor, movie questions, an essay based on critical articles and one question for a movie identification based on a scene the professor will play from any of the movies watched in class.

30%  Final exam (Date TBA). The final exam is cumulative and it will include ID questions based on class notes on the lectures delivered by professor, movie questions, an essay based on critical articles and one question for a movie identification based on a scene the professor will play from any of the movies watched in class.

*The students must take notes on the lectures delivered by the professor. Quizzes, Midterm and Final exams will be based on class notes on the lectures delivered by professor, movie questions, movie identification, and critical articles questions/essay.

*Attendance is mandatory. You are only allowed three absences. After the 3rd absence, your final grade will be dropped 1% for each additional absence. When you miss class obviously you are not able to participate in class and therefore your participation grade will suffer. Please take into account if the student performance/active participation in class grade is important to you. See “Students responsibilities” (page 9).

*There is no extra-credit in this course.

*Please notice that no early Final exams, quizzes or Midterm will be given and there are NO make-ups for any quiz or the Final exam. Keep in mind when planning your work schedule and other personal activities. As I drop your lowest quiz, if you miss a quiz, that will be the one I drop.

*Academic dishonesty: your academic integrity is important. Dishonesty, including plagiarism or any other forms of cheating, is taken very seriously and may result in an automatic failing of the course and/or expulsion from the university. Please review the university’s academic dishonesty policies on the web at and

A 90.0+ B 80.0+ C 70.0+ D 60.0+

Americans with Disabilities Act statement

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, in cooperation with the Office of Disability Accommodation, complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act in making accommodations for students with disabilities. Please present your written accommodation request to your instructor during the first week of class.