What makes a monster? Which peoples, bodies, behaviors, and identities are deemed monstrous at particular moments in history? What does the cultural construction of "monstrosity" tell us about a society's anxieties, taboos, and fears? Are monsters, who symbolize deviations from established conventions and norms, inherently queer figures? And how have LGBTQ+ cultural producers re-appropriated the images and tropes of monstrosity as tools and techniques for self-fashioning? In this course, we will explore how same-sex desire and gender transgression have been represented in Anglophone literature, film, and television through various monster figures, from lesbian vampires and ghoulish hauntings to angels, demons, cyborgs, and serial killers. Students will be exposed to a variety of theoretical schools, including queer and trans theory, monster studies, psychoanalysis, film and media studies, and critical disability theory, in order to develop a shared grammar for describing horror, monstrosity, uncanniness, abjection, and even queerness itself. Primary texts will range over ENGLISH 200 years of literary, visual, and media history, and might include selections from Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Flannery O'Connor, Tony Kushner, and others; films and other media might include The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, and Jennifer's Body. (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact farrahm@stanford.edu.)
5 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
What makes a monster? Which peoples, bodies, behaviors, and identities are deemed monstrous at particular moments in history? What does the cultural construction of "monstrosity" tell us about a society's anxieties, taboos, and fears? Are monsters, who symbolize deviations from established conventions and norms, inherently queer figures? And how have LGBTQ+ cultural producers re-appropriated the images and tropes of monstrosity as tools and techniques for self-fashioning? In this course, we will explore how same-sex desire and gender transgression have been represented in Anglophone literature, film, and television through various monster figures, from lesbian vampires and ghoulish hauntings to angels, demons, cyborgs, and serial killers. Students will be exposed to a variety of theoretical schools, including queer and trans theory, monster studies, psychoanalysis, film and media studies, and critical disability theory, in order to develop a shared grammar for describing horror, monstrosity, uncanniness, abjection, and even queerness itself. Primary texts will range over 200 years of literary, visual, and media history, and might include selections from Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Flannery O'Connor, Tony Kushner, and others; films and other media might include The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, and Jennifer's Body. (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact farrahm@stanford.edu.)