How do we understand the notion of "minority"? And how does "minority", look like, in cinema? This course examines the rich tradition of critical film theory and provides students with an understanding of its main concerns and debates, concerning "minority" identities and subalternity. Addressing key discussions about media representations of "minority", the course will look at the politics of representation and its impacts, both on- and off-screen. We will be looking at how media works to construct "the Other" in different contexts, and delve into important work which have inspired minority cinema, subaltern cinema, avant-garde cinema, local cinema, and independent cinema among other counter-movements, as well as recent re-conceptualizations and exploration of representations marginalized identities, positions, and experiences, local and abroad. Across different systems of representation, from fine art to mainstream cinema to advertising, different groups, especially marginalized ones with little access to the mechanisms of production, have been constructed and existed as spectacle or passive object "to-be-looked-at," in critical film theorist Laura Mulvey's now often quoted words. Lacking representations both behind the camera and in front of it, how are the lives of different social "minorities" affected by biased media representations? How are stereotypes and biases created, disseminated, perpetuated, and reproduced through media, and to what consequences? Mulvey's groundbreaking analysis of gendered looking relations in classical Hollywood cinema has since generated numerous analyses of the standings of different socially and culturally marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities, queer communities, and people with disabilities, etc., as spectacle or passive object "in films cut to the measure of desire" of the dominant social groups. What happens when "minority" artists, audiences, and theorists look back, and seek to rebel against such cinematic traditions by experimenting with alternative visual languages and narrative tools? Critics showed how different marginalized groups around the world attempt to take control of their positioning through viewing or using texts in their own ways, and by creating their own. Minority cinemas and independent creators have been actively carving out space to tell their own unique stories of lives at the margin in dramatically different cultural contexts, and these images are further complicated by engagements with them through the intersecting lens including ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, ability, queerness, and more. In the course, we will look at how socially marginalized groups, such as gay and lesbians, transgender persons, ethnic minorities, women in different stages of their lives, people with mental illness, teenagers, the elderlyand many others are portrayed, and seek to expand their on-screen existence in Hong Kong media. In the exploration, we will engage with key questions in critical film studies, including spectatorship, authorship, popular culture, character stereotypes in genre films, self-representation, systems of media production, pro-sumer culture, (g)local cinema, alternative cinema, and new media. Students would be introduced to trailblazing works by "minority" filmmakers and media creators worldwide, and important cinematic and media movements that challenge the status-quo. Special focus will be placed onto important works in Hong Kong and Asia for critical examination and comparative studies. Through critical exercise and reflection on notions such as power, diversity, equality, and freedom, the course aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 by engaging directly with the SDGs 5 (Gender Equality) and OSPHONGK 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
4 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
How do we understand the notion of "minority"? And how does "minority", look like, in cinema? This course examines the rich tradition of critical film theory and provides students with an understanding of its main concerns and debates, concerning "minority" identities and subalternity. Addressing key discussions about media representations of "minority", the course will look at the politics of representation and its impacts, both on- and off-screen. We will be looking at how media works to construct "the Other" in different contexts, and delve into important work which have inspired minority cinema, subaltern cinema, avant-garde cinema, local cinema, and independent cinema among other counter-movements, as well as recent re-conceptualizations and exploration of representations marginalized identities, positions, and experiences, local and abroad. Across different systems of representation, from fine art to mainstream cinema to advertising, different groups, especially marginalized ones with little access to the mechanisms of production, have been constructed and existed as spectacle or passive object "to-be-looked-at," in critical film theorist Laura Mulvey's now often quoted words. Lacking representations both behind the camera and in front of it, how are the lives of different social "minorities" affected by biased media representations? How are stereotypes and biases created, disseminated, perpetuated, and reproduced through media, and to what consequences? Mulvey's groundbreaking analysis of gendered looking relations in classical Hollywood cinema has since generated numerous analyses of the standings of different socially and culturally marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities, queer communities, and people with disabilities, etc., as spectacle or passive object "in films cut to the measure of desire" of the dominant social groups. What happens when "minority" artists, audiences, and theorists look back, and seek to rebel against such cinematic traditions by experimenting with alternative visual languages and narrative tools? Critics showed how different marginalized groups around the world attempt to take control of their positioning through viewing or using texts in their own ways, and by creating their own. Minority cinemas and independent creators have been actively carving out space to tell their own unique stories of lives at the margin in dramatically different cultural contexts, and these images are further complicated by engagements with them through the intersecting lens including ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, ability, queerness, and more. In the course, we will look at how socially marginalized groups, such as gay and lesbians, transgender persons, ethnic minorities, women in different stages of their lives, people with mental illness, teenagers, the elderlyand many others are portrayed, and seek to expand their on-screen existence in Hong Kong media. In the exploration, we will engage with key questions in critical film studies, including spectatorship, authorship, popular culture, character stereotypes in genre films, self-representation, systems of media production, pro-sumer culture, (g)local cinema, alternative cinema, and new media. Students would be introduced to trailblazing works by "minority" filmmakers and media creators worldwide, and important cinematic and media movements that challenge the status-quo. Special focus will be placed onto important works in Hong Kong and Asia for critical examination and comparative studies. Through critical exercise and reflection on notions such as power, diversity, equality, and freedom, the course aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 by engaging directly with the SDGs 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.