House Course – Marsha’s Home LLC

Queer Representation in Contemporary Media

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Faculty advisor: Chase Black

Student Teacher(s): TBD

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Course Description:

Queer Representation in Fiction Media seeks to illuminate, analyze, celebrate, and critique LGBTQ+ representation in various media, from film to TV to literature or audio dramas. This course seeks to question the tropes and stereotypes in which queer identities are presented and begin a discussion on how to create more accurate, respectful, and affirming forms of representation. We want students to finish the house course with the ability to locate queer identities in the constantly shifting landscape of media in pop culture. We want them to ask themselves why this shift is happening now and why it’s thriving in our present moment compared to the repression and censorship of the past. Students will walk away with not only further knowledge into pieces of media they can find their own identities in, but also the background and critical skills to analyze the media they consume and an understanding of how to improve the queer media scene today. Students will be asked to consider the questions:

What was the historical state of Queer representation and how has that affected the tropes and stereotypes we see today.
Where has emerging acknowledgement/incorporation of queer identities in popular media shown up today?
What motivates this change? What has caused certain forms of media (podcasts, web comics, etc.) to shift to queer inclusivity more quickly/popularly than other forms of media?

Learning outcomes:

Students should finish the house course with the ability to locate queer identities in the constantly shifting landscape of media in pop culture. We want them to ask themselves why this shift is happening now and why it’s thriving in our present moment compared to the repression and censorship of the past.

Required Reading Materials:

No reading materials required. All materials will be provided by the course.

Grades and Evaluation:

Weekly Forum Response: 50%
- Students will write a weekly one paragraph forum response analyzing a piece of media from a provided list of media with queer representation. The forum post can be critique or praise and will be due before class.
Class Participation: 25%
- Students are expected to be present in class.
Final Project/Portfolio: 25%
- Students will create a final project portfolio instead of a final essay in which they may suggest a creative component of art or writing that integrates good queer representation or provide a collection of media analyses that have not been addressed in the Weekly Forum Response.

Schedule

- Week 1
  - Intro to Queer Identities: What identities are presented in the media and what tropes or stereotypes are they often associated. How is this harmful? How is this affirming?
  - No assignments due
- Week 2
  - History of Queer Representation in media: How have laws like the Hays Code, queer spaces such as theater, or trends like the lesbian pulp fiction novel shaped the current landscape of representation. What is the place of Queerness in horror?

Forum post due

- Week 3
  - Queer Subtext and Ephemera: What is Queer Subtext and Ephemera and why is it central to the current Queer Community? What can you predict about subtext and ephemera and their place in media as representation becomes more present?

Forum post due

- Week 4
  - Sherlock, Supernatural, and Queerbaiting: What is Queerbaiting and how does it reflect current societal attitudes of ‘queer acceptance’ for economic gain

Forum post due

- Week 5
  - Online Spaces: Community, Recognition, and Social Media: What has been the place of queer representation in social media? How have online spaces affected queer people today as well as other media representation?

Forum post due

- Week 6
  - Queer Representation in children’s entertainment: She-Ra, Steven Universe, etc. How has representation improved within children’s entertainment and why is it important?

Forum post due

- Week 7
  - Queer Coming Out Films: and why they aren’t enough.

Forum post due

- Week 8
  - Queer Literature: What do we do with YA

Forum post due

- Week 9
  - Queer Music: connection, understanding, and the coming out music video.

Forum post due

- Week 10
  - Welcome to Nightvale and the podcast explosion: Queer podcasts as a new and diverse form of fiction. What issues of accessibility do they have?

Forum post due

- Week 11
  - Video games and the Bi protagonist: How have video games used queerness as game mechanics? To what extent is queerness explored through the video game medium?

Forum post due

- Week 12
  - Thanksgiving break
  - Movie viewing and discussion
  - No Forum Due
- Week 13
  - Conclusions; The struggle between support and critique, how do we demand more from our media? How has queer representation changed in media, and how has that shifted lgbtq space?

Forum post due

- Week 14
  - Film/TV showing and discussion (Class vote)

Final project due