Theories of Cinema, Trauma, and Sex

This course introduces students to various theories of cinema, trauma, and sex. Our primary question will be: What is "trauma" as a historical, structural, and sexual concept? What and how does cinema tell us about "trauma"? We will consider the filmic depiction of traumatic events as a formal and epistemological problem to be interrogated rather than as something that we can take at face value. We will survey a broad range of approaches to these issues, from "classical" trauma theory and psychoanalysis to critical race studies and feminist/queer studies. Weekly screenings will be put into conversation with these diverse methodologies and film theory. We will analyze films wherein cinematic form tells us something about trauma as an ontological issue. How cinematic form poses and exposes the limits of knowledge around individual and collective traumas will thus be our focus.