QUEER TV RTF 335, WGS 335 Spring 2019
Seminar: M/W/F 2:00pm-3:00pm (CMA 3.124) Screening: W: 7:30pm-10:00pm (CMA 3.116)
Professor: Curran Nault Office Hours: Wednesdays, 3:30pm-6:30pm, BUR 570 Email: [email protected]
TA: Paxton Haven Office Hours: By appointment Email: [email protected]
Course Overview
This course immerses students in the critical analysis of queer television, broadly construed. Students will read key queer/TV theory writings and explore a diversity of queer TV texts and genres, past and present, paying close attention to their attendant practices of production and reception, as well as the contested discourses of identity, politics, activism, desire and represen- tation that these texts elicit. Important to this project are historical shifts in the depiction of LGBTQ+ individuals, including their growing visibility within commercial media culture and the “gaystream”—shifts that parallel the evolution of the televisual medium itself, from network TV, to cable, to streaming services. This course also insists on an intersectional approach that actively queries race, class, nation, ability and generation—in additional to gender and sexuality.
Course Goals
After successfully completing this course, students will have the ability to: • Explicate and debate key queer/television theories and concepts • Recognize dominant strategies used by the commercial media industries in producing LGBTQ+ texts and portraying LGBTQ+ people, and in appeals made to these consumers • Analyze “alternative” queer practices of representation, reception and production • Appreciate the intersections of sexuality with race, class, gender, nation and generation
Course Materials
All readings are posted on Canvas. Students are responsible for retrieving and reading them. Evaluation
TV Journals 20% “Pop” Quizzes 20% Paper Project Part 1 20% Paper Project Part 2 20% Attendance/Participation 20%
Grading Scale: This class will use the standard +/- system.
Assignments
TV Journals: By midnight each Thursday, students are to post (250+ words) on Canvas in response to the Wednesday night screening/s. This is intended to be a “low stakes” assignment, fostering a space for students to raise questions/critiques and to think through topics covered in class. At times, prompts will be given. At others, students will be free to discuss whatever sparks their interest.
“Pop” Quizzes: At unspecified times during the semester, students will take pop quizzes at the start of class. Although these quizzes will be impromptu, the quiz will always be on the reading for that day and the questions will always be the same: 1) What is the thesis (the main idea or claim) of the reading?; and 2) What is a major example that the author uses to support this thesis? You must be specific in your answers. If students are keeping up with the readings, these “pop” quizzes should not be onerous.
Paper Project: Students are to choose a television series of any genre, time period or format to examine over the course of the semester. This series must be relevant to the queer topics engaged in the course. Students may choose a series that is included in the syllabus, but the student’s work must be original (i.e., not just a repeat of what has already been discussed in class).
Part 1: In part one of the assignment, students will write a 4-5 page paper that contextualizes the series in terms of: 1) its production histories; and 2) the salient public (audience/fan, critic) discourses that the series has elicited. Additional details to be provided at a later date. Note: This portion of the paper project will undergo a revise and resubmit process.
Part 2: In part two of the assignment, students will write a 4-5 page paper that provides an in- depth analysis of one (possibly two) episode/s of the series. Students will be required to link their analyses to class concepts and external research. Additional details to be provided at a later date.
Active Participation/Attendance: is a grade that must be earned; it requires more than being a warm body in class. For a high grade, you must be an active participant. This means asking and answering questions, and listening attentively and respectfully to the instructor and your classmates.
Students who are repeatedly disruptive will receive a poor class participation grade. This includes but is not limited to: talking/whispering to your neighbor, talking/texting on a phone, checking email/playing computer games, sleeping, and noisily packing your books before class has ended.
NOTE: Missing class means missing crucial material and assignments, thus impacting your grade.
About the Course
Reading assignments should be done prior to the class period for which they are listed. Students who fall behind in the readings will find it difficult to succeed in this course.
Cultural Diversity Flag: This course carries the Cultural Diversity flag. Cultural Diversity courses are designed to increase your familiarity with the variety and richness of the American cultural experience. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of U.S. cultural groups that have experienced persistent marginalization.
Writing Flag: This course carries the Writing Flag. Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Difficult Course Content: At times this semester we will be discussing material that may be upsetting to some students. In a class dedicated to queer TV, discussion and critique of significant, but sometimes contentious and difficult, issues related to race, gender, sexuality, etc., is to be expected. If you ever feel the need to step outside during one of these discussions, you may do so without academic penalty. You will, however, be responsible for any material you miss.
Services for students with disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.
Academic misconduct: Cheating will not be tolerated. Expect me to pursue every instance of suspected academic misconduct in this course. Two kinds of academic misconduct are cheating on quizzes and exams, and plagiarism (such as turning in someone else’s work, downloading a paper from the Web in part or in whole, or paraphrasing or quoting sources without citation). Penalties range from a zero on the assignment to expulsion from school.
The work that you turn in should honestly and accurately demonstrate your own academic efforts. Your assignments should also reflect work done for this course. Do not turn in assignments done for another course or attempt to pass off as “research” readings or screenings from another course.
I expect all of you to know the University’s full definition of academic misconduct and its possible penalties. Information on academic integrity and disciplinary action is available online at
Course Schedule: Or, A Guide to the “Gay Agenda” J
Note: Readings should be completed prior to the class period for which they are assigned.
STEP 1: COMMENCING QUEER Core Concepts and Methodologies
Week 1 Establishing Queer
1/23 Class Introductions
1/25 Read: Anna Tripp, “Introduction to Gender”
Week 2 Considering Queer
1/28 Read: Anonymous Queers, “Queers Read This” Possible in-class excerpt: Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution
1/30 Read: Douglas Kellner, “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism and Media Culture”
Night Screening: RuPaul’s Drag Race
2/1 Group discussion of Drag Race (enacting “Multiperspectival Cultural Studies”)
STEP 2: DEPICTING QUEER Regimes of Representation
Week 3 Framing Queer
2/4 Read: Larry Gross, “The Mediated Society” and Richard Dyer, “The Role of Stereotypes” Possible in-class excerpts: The Homosexuals, Police Woman and/or Soap (gl/g firsts)
2/6 Read: Alfred Martin, “It’s Not In His Kiss: Gay Kisses and Camera Angles in US Network Television Comedy” Possible in-class excerpts: LA Law, Roseanne and/or Modern Family (first kisses)
Night Screening: All in the Family and The Jeffersons
2/8 Discussion of Wednesday’s screenings (trans TV firsts) Recommended Reading: Juanio Bermudez de Castro, “Psycho Killers, Circus Freaks, Ordinary People”
STEP 3: LOOKING QUEER Reception and Fandom
Week 4 Queering Queer
2/11 Read: Alexander Doty, “There’s Something Queer Here” Possible in-class excerpts: Off the Straight and Narrow and/or Celluloid Closet
2/13 In-class episode and collective queering of Bewitched
Night Screening: Golden Girls and Xena: Warrior Princess
2/15 Discussion of Wednesday’s screenings (fandoms and female “friendships”) Read: Elena Maris, “Hacking Xena: Technological Innovation and Queer Influence in the Production of Mainstream Television.” Recommended Reading: Alexander Doty, “I Love Laverne and Shirley”
Week 5 Camping, Carnivalesquing and Cartooning Queer
2/18 Read: Bruce LaBruce, “Pee-Wee Herman: The Homosexual Subtext” In-class excerpt: Pee-Wee’s Playhouse
2/20 Read: Eli Dunn, “Steven Universe, Fusion Magic and the Queer Cartoon Carnivalesque” In-class excerpts: Steven Universe. Possibly Bugs Bunny and SpongeBob SquarePants. Recommended Reading: Jo Johnson, “We’ll Have a Gay Old Time”
Night Screening: None
2/22 No class **Choose series for paper project by this date and begin research**
STEP 4: DOING QUEER Production and Politics
Week 6 Flaming Queer
2/25 Read: Edward Alwood, sections from Straight News: Gays, Lesbians & the News Media In-class excerpts: The Rejected, 1970s News on Gays Rights and early AIDS coverage
2/27 Read: Alexandra Juhasz, sections from AIDS TV Possible in-class excerpts: Paper Tiger and/or DIVA TV
Night Screening: Designing Women and episode/s of Real World: San Francisco
3/1 Discussion of Wednesday’s screenings (narrativizing HIV/AIDS) Recommended Reading: Jose Esteban Muñoz, “Pedro Zamora’s Real World of Counterpublicity”
Week 7 Outing Queer
3/4 Read: Bonnie Dow, “Ellen, Television and the Politics of Gay and Lesbian Visibility” Begin: Ellen, “Puppy Episode”
3/6 Finish and discuss Ellen, “Puppy Episode” Recommended Reading: Lynne Joyrich, “Epistemology of the Console”
Night Screening: Master of None, Sex and the City, Brooklyn 999, The Bisexual and/or Good Wife
3/8 Discussion of Wednesday’s screenings (coming out continued and complicated)
Reading: Michaela Meyer, “Representing Bisexuality on Television: The Case for Intersectional Hybrids” Recommended Reading: Funk, “Transgender Dispossession in Transparent: Coming Out as a Euphemism for Honesty” (TBD)
Week 8 Casting Queer
3/11 Read: Ron Becker, “Prime-Time Television in the Gay 90s: Network Television, Quality Audiences and Gay Politics” In class excerpt: Will and Grace
3/13 Read: Eve Ng, “A Post-Gay Era?: Media Gaystreaming, Homonormativity, and the Politics of LGBT Integration” and Joyrich, “Queer TV Studies: Currents, Flows & (Main)Streams” Possible in class excerpts from Logo TV and The New Normal
Night screening: The L Word and Looking and/or Queer as Folk
3/15 Discussion of Wednesday’s screenings (Queers on Cable) **Part 1 of Paper Project Due for Peer Review**
MIDTERM BREAK: March 18-23
STEP 5: SPREADING QUEER Intersectionalities and Interstitials
Week 9 Cuiring/Quaring Queer
3/25 Episode of My So Called Life
3/27 Read: Jes Battis, “My So-Called Queer: Rickie Vasquez and the Performance of Teen Exile”
Night Screening: Webisodes and Noah’s Arc.
3/29 Discussion of Wednesday’s screening Read: Aymar Christian: “Locating Black Queer TV
**Part 1 of Paper Project Due to Professor and TA**
Week 10 Trans*Forming Queer
4/1 In-class episode/s: Transparent Cont’d. Watch Orange is the New Black on own.
4/3 Read: Selections from Dossier on “Trans TV as Concept and Intervention into Contemporary Television”
Night Screening: Ugly Betty (final episodes) and/or Relaciones Peligrosas
4/5 Read: Amara Graf, “A Queer Telenovela: Transformative Representations of the Maricon and the Macho in Ugly Betty” Or José Francisco, “Telenovelas: Queer Spaces in the Chicano and Chicana Home” (TBD)
STEP 6: CONNECTING QUEER Genres and Publics
Week 11 Freaking Queer
4/8 Read: Joshua Gamson, “Publicity Traps: Television Talk Shows and LGBT Visibility” In-class excerpts: Talk shows and “Trash” TV
4/10 Read: Sabrina Boyer, “‘Thou Shall Not Crave They Neighbor’: True Blood, Abjection and Otherness” In-class excerpts of the “queer monster”
Night Screening: Assasination of Ginanni Versace, and/or The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
4/12 Discussion of Wednesday’s screenings (Queerness—oh, the horror!)
Week 12 Selling Queer
4/15 Read: Katherine Sender, “Queens for a Day: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the Neoliberal Project” In-class excerpts: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (original and new)
4/17 Discussion: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (original and new)
Night screening: Ru-Paul’s Drag Race
4/19 Discussion of Wednesday’s screenings (return to Ru) Read: Carl Schottmiller, “’Available on iTunes: Camp Capitalism and RuPaul’s Commercial Drag Economy”
Week 13 Acting Queer
4/22 Michael Lovelock, “‘I Am…’: Caitlyn Jenner, Jazz Jennings and the Cultural Politics of Transgender Celebrity” In-class excerpts: I am Cait and/or I am Jazz
4/24 Read: David Alderson, “Acting Straight: Reality TV, Gender Self-Consciousness and Forms of Capital” In-class excerpt: Playing it Straight
Night Screening: Glee and/or Pose
4/26 Discussion of Wednesday’s Screenings (Queer TV and the performative)
STEP 7: (BE)COMING QUEER Hereafters and Horizons
Week 14 Future Queer
4/29 In-class episode of Sense 8 (or W night)
5/1 In-class episode of Black Mirror, “San Junipero” (or W night)
5/3 No class
Week 15 Future Queer
5/6 No class
5/8 Discussion of previous week’s texts (Future Queers) Read: Excerpt from Jose Esteban Muñoz’s Cruising Utopia and Adam Smith, “Sense 8 and a Radical Queer Future”
Night Screening: Paper Presentations
5/10 Paper Presentations (**Part 2 of Paper Project Due**)