Global Girlhoods in Film and Television
| Module title | Global Girlhoods in Film and Television |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAFM008 |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Danielle Hipkins (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 35 |
|---|
Module description
This module explores the ‘hypervisibility’ of the girl as a protagonist in contemporary global cinema and television that cuts across the divides of popular/art-house, Western/non Western, and north/south. The figure of the girl is frequently aligned with particular anxieties about gender violence and sexualisation, as well as changing gender and sexual identities. However, more broadly she often acts as a barometer of broader social change, from anxieties about the flow of capital to political futures. You will think about how these themes recur, and ask to what extent and how a global cinematic and televisual language of girlhood is emerging.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The module will introduce you to the study of gender in a global context, comparing a range of methodological approaches, but drawing particularly on theory from Girlhood, Feminist, and Film and Television Studies. We will consider the representation of the girl in cinematic history to interrogate what are the conditions of her claimed ‘hypervisibility’ today. You will be introduced to the potential and the limits of the postfeminist framework as a mode of approach, and will explore its resonance in examples from North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. There will be a particular emphasis on learning how to set detailed textual readings in the context of broader industrial questions:
- Who makes and produces films about girls? How is the ‘girl film’ marketed, and to whom?
- How do representations travel and how do audiences respond to these representations across diverse national contexts?
- What are the conditions of female performance in cinema?
- What forms and approaches to film-making prevail in the representation of girlhood?
You will explore these questions through a series of thematic case studies, through which global/local variations and constants will be traced. You will be encouraged to draw upon your own examples in assessment for the module, and you will also have the opportunity to learn how to make a video essay, and to develop other creative responses to the module.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an advanced appreciation of the critical debates around issues of girlhood and feminism in global cinema;
- 2. Demonstrate an advanced capacity to connect the formal analysis of film to the broader conceptual questions raised by the module;
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Demonstrate advanced and autonomous skills in the research, evaluation and application of relevant critical, theoretical and historical materials for the study of film;
- 4. Demonstrate a sophisticated and intellectually mature ability to analyse films of different origins and to relate their concerns and their modes of expression to their context;
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Through essay-writing and other assignments, demonstrate advanced research and bibliographic skills, an advanced and intellectually mature capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and to write clear and correct prose.
- 6. Through research and essay writing demonstrate an advanced and intellectually mature capacity to question assumptions, to distinguish between fact and opinion, and to critically reflect on their own learning process.
Syllabus plan
Weeks 1-4: Theories of Contemporary Girlhood and the Girl in Cinema and Television History
Weeks 5-11: Case Studies
The following are examples of the kinds of case study approaches the module might take in subsequent weeks, but the choice of themes and texts will depend upon staff research orientation. All films and television selected for study will be subtitled in English.
- International blockbusters: Barbie (Gerwig, 2023, USA)
- The rise of the ‘girl’ auteur: Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman, 2021, France); Sofia Coppola (Priscilla, 2023, USA)
- Co-productions, streaming platforms and transnational markets: My Brilliant Friend (Sky/RAI, 2020-, Italy); Euphoria (2019-, HBO, US)
- Performance and Casting: A Chiara (Carpignano, 2018, Italy); Kakera: A piece of our life (Ando, 2008, Japan)
- Genres of Resistance and Resilience: Wadjda (Al-Mansour, 2012, Saudi Arabia); The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1999, Senegal); Ixcanul (Bustamante, 2015, Guatamala); The Florida Project (Baker, 2017, USA)
- Political cinema: Consent and #Metoo: The Holy Girl (Martel, 2004, Argentina); How to Have Sex (Molly Manning Walker, 2023, UK)
- Political cinema: Who is girlhood for? Ma vie en rose (Alain Berliner, 1997, Belgium); 200 species of bees (Estibaliz Urresola Solagure, 2023, Spain)
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 48 | 252 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | 2-hour weekly class for discussion & presentation |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 4 | Guest speaker and video essay workshop |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | One film screening per week |
| Guided independent study | 22 | Additional viewing 2 hours per week |
| Guided independent study | 44 | Reading/Writing for class, 4 hours per week |
| Guided independent study | 186 | Preparation of formative and summative work |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blog post/ creative response for discussion in class | 1000 words | 1-6 | Oral and written |
| Outline for final essay | 1000 words | 1-6 | Oral and written |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio (including academic essay of a minimum of 2,500 words + creative responses to the module) OR video essay + commentary | 100 | 5000 words OR 10 minute video essay + 2000 word commentary | 1-6 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | Portfolio (5000 words) | 1-6 | Referral/Deferral Period |
| Video essay + commentary | Video essay + commentary (10 minute video essay + 2000 word commentary) | 1-6 | Referral/Deferral Period |
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 50%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as defined above. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Sam Colling, The Aesthetic Pleasures of Girl Teen Film (Bloomsbury, 2017).
- Catherine Driscoll, Girls: Feminine Adolescence in Popular Culture and Critical Theory (New York: Columbia U Press, 2002)
- Ros Gill, ‘Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility’, European Journal of Cultural Studies 10:2 (May 2007), 147-166
- Marnina Gonick, Emma Renold, Jessica Ringrose and Lisa Weems, ‘Rethinking Agency and Resistance: What Comes After Girl Power?’ in Girlhood Studies 2 (2), Winter, 2009, 1-9
- Fiona Handyside and Kate Taylor-Jones, eds, International Cinema and the Girl: Local Issues, Transnational Contexts (New York: Palgrave, 2016)
- Catherine McDermott, Feel-Bad Postfeminism: Impasse, Resilience and Female Subjectivity in Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2022).
- Angela McRobbie, The Aftermath of Feminism (London: Sage, 2009)
- Diane Negra and Yvonne Tasker, Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture, Negra and Tasker, eds (Duke University Press, 2007)
- Sarah Projansky, Spectacular Girls (NYUP, 2014)
- Kathleen Rowe Karlyn, Unruly Girls, Unrepentant Mothers: Redefining Feminism on Screen (University of Texas Press, 2011)
- Monica Swindle, ‘Feeling Girl, Girling Feeling: An Examination of "Girl" as Affect’, Rhizomes 22 http://www.rhizomes.net/issue22/swindle.html
- Alison Winch, Girlfriends and Postfeminist Sisterhood (Palgrave, 2013)
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 01/05/2024 |
| Last revision date | 01/05/2024 |
