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Queering British Film and Television

Module description

You will encounter a broad range of dynamic film and television texts which interrogate key aspects of both identity politics and film and television form. You will read widely in classic and contemporary queer theory, considering the question of whether ‘the queer must insist on disturbing’ as Lee Edelman argues. You will debate film and television’s contributions to both reinforcing and disturbing heteronormative myths, and the radical impact that both media have had on the political positioning of LGBT+ subjects. Far from privileging British culture as a special case, the module will consider how Britishness has been one of the sites of interrogation. The module will encourage you to build on some of the theoretical insights of earlier modules, as well as developing a precise critical vocabulary for writing on the moving image. It will sit comfortably alongside other modules, including those on twentieth century literature, adaptation, and Shakespeare studies.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module will:

• assist you in developing a well-defined critical vocabulary and understanding of British cultural (and particularly cinematic and televisual) histories
• provide you with an introduction to the developing field of queer theory
• enable you to engage confidently and knowledgably with historical and contemporary political debates on aspects of sexual identity
• empower you to interrogate and challenge monolithic notions of identity and totalising readings of unstable cultural texts
• structure and reinforce your consideration of central ethical questions

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of specific queer films and television programmes produced in Britain
• 2. Demonstrate a secure understanding of classic and contemporary queer theory
• 3. Apply concepts from queer theory to the analysis of film and television texts
• 4. Evaluate the position of the film and television texts within the wider cultural discourse of queer identity politics

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Analyse film and television texts with sensitivity and academic rigour, making productive reference to form, theme and genre
• 6. Explain and assess the effects of radical and unconventional film and television forms
• 7. Demonstrate a rigorous understanding of Britain’s cultural history from 1930 to the present
• 8. Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse films and television programmes of different periods and to relate their concerns and modes of expression to their historical contexts

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Develop and demonstrate key communication skills through module participation, essay writing, and the production of a video essay and blog.
• 10. Demonstrate research and bibliographic skills
• 11. Explain sensitive political issues with nuance, tact, and precision
• 12. Demonstrate an ability to work with other students in the production of collective analyses

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Queering film and television form
• Queering the environment: how normative geographies (and temporalities) and ideas of Nature can be questioned
• Queering before the Queer: queer film and television before decriminalisation
• Queering the 1960s: queer film and television in the decade of decriminalisation
• Queering the crisis: representations of AIDS in film and television
• Queering genre
• Queering the canon: queer adaptation
• Queering gender: the representation of trans people in film and television
• Queering race: the representation of racial identity in film and television
• Queering the self: queering identity in (auto)biographical film and television

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• Benshoff, Harry and Sean Griffin (ed). Queer Cinema: The Film Reader. New York: Routledge, 2004
• Edelman, Lee. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004
• Griffiths, Robin (ed). British Queer Cinema. London: Routledge, 2006

Basic Viewing:

• Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, UK, 2012)
• Blue (Derek Jarman, 1993)
• The Lavender Hill Mob (Alexander Mackendrick, UK, 1955)
• The Long Day Closes (Terence Davies, 1992)
• Performance (Nicholas Roeg and Donald Cammell, UK, 1970)
• Prospero’s Books (Peter Greenaway, 1991)
• The Servant (1963)
• Victim (Basil Dearden, UK, 1961)
• Closing Numbers (Channel 4, 1993)
• Coming Out (BBC, 1979)
• Doctor Who (BBC, 1963-)
• Even Solomon (BBC, 1979)
• Gentleman Jack (BBC, 2019)
• The Naked Civil Servant (ITV, 1975)
• Schalcken the Painter (BBC, 1979)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11245 

Key words search

Queer, cinema, television, British