Topic for Spring 2018: Body Genres
The term “body genre” has come to signify films that not only centralize the body thematically but also engage the body of the spectator in the experience of the film through laughter, involuntary muscle reflexes of joy or fear, or erotic arousal. Developed by Carol J. Clover and Linda Williams in relationship to horror and pornographic film, the idea of body genres has been extended to include action film, musicals, comedy, and melodrama. Similarly, Tom Gunning speaks of the power of early cinema to “show” rather than “tell” through images and movement that shocked rather than through cinematic narrativization. This course will examine the power of film to configure the body on screen to provoke a reaction from the viewer as well as societal reactions to that cinematic power. The course will address recent theoretical positions articulated in relationship to body genre film by scholars such as Stephen Prince, Carol J. Clover, Linda Williams and David Bordwell.