Compare the treatment of the relationships between the protagonists and their wives in Victim (Dearden 1961) and
Brokeback Mountain (Ang 2005). Critically discuss the representational issues raised.
Please remember to avoid footnotes and to include an
alphabetical list of 'References' which have been cited in the text
(not a Bibliography of anything you have read for the essay). This list should include
author's names, date, book titles (in italics), place of publication and publisher.
Within the text always cite author's surname, date and page number. Double-space your
text and number your pages.
Guidance for this assignment:
I am not aware of any books or articles directly on this topic, so skim the suggested reading for anything that might be
relevant. NB: It is extremely important that you should focus on the filmic functions of these representations
(and the differences between them) rather than being tempted to moralise about them (do not take on this assignment if you
can't resist moralising!).
Note also that this is an assignment for which the
inclusion of relevant pictorial illustrations is essential.
Use these to illustrate particular points. Contrasting
one with another can also be productive.
Incorporate illustrations electronically into your text (e.g. by
scanning or downloading from the Internet) rather than literally cutting and pasting.
For guidance on capturing stills, click here.
Some suggested reading
- Bingham, Dennis (1994)
Acting Male: Masculinities in the Films of James Stewart, Jack Nicholson and
Clint Eastwood. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press
- Bourne, Stephen (1996)
Brief Encounters: Lesbians and Gays in British Cinema 1930-1971.
London: Cassell
- Cohan, Steve & Ina Rae Stark (Eds) (1992)
Screening the Male: Exploring Masculinities in
The Hollywood Cinema. London: Routledge
- Courtney, Alice E. & Thomas W. Whipple (1983)
Sex Stereotyping in Advertising. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books
- Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2003)
Straight: Constructions of Heterosexuality in the Cinema.
(Suny Series, Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video). New York: State University of New York Press
- Dyer, Richard (1993)
The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations. London: Routledge
- Easthope, Anthony (1986)
What a Man's Gotta Do: The Masculine Myth in Popular Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman
- Jeffords, Susan (1994)
Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press
- Kirkham, Pat & Janet Thumin (Eds) (1993)
You Tarzan: Masculinity, Movies and Men. London:
Lawrence and Wishart
- Lang, Robert (2002)
Masculine Interests: Homoerotics in Hollywood Film. New York: Columbia University Press
- Lehman, Peter (Ed) (2001)
Masculinity: Bodies, Movies, Culture. New York: Routledge
- Leung, William (2008)
'So Queer Yet So Straight: Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet and Brokeback Mountain',
Journal of Film and Television 60(1): 23-42
- Macdonald, Myra (1995)
Representing Women: Myths of Femininity in the Popular Media. London: Edward Arnold
- Mackinnon, Kenneth (2003)
Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media. London: Arnold
- Needham, Gary (2010)
Brokeback Mountain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
- Patterson, Eric (2008)
On 'Brokeback Mountain': Meditations about Masculinity, Fear, and Love in the Story and the Film. New York: Lexington
- Perchuk, Andrew & Helaine Posner (Eds) (1995)
The Masculine Masquerade: Masculinity and Representation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
- Proulx, Annie, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana (2006)
Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay. Londom: Harper
- Spicer, Andrew (2003)
Typical Men: The Representation of Masculinity in Popular British Cinema.
London: Tauris
- Stacy, Jim (Ed) (2007)
Reading 'Brokeback Mountain'. Jefferson, NC: McFarland
- Streitmatter, Rodger (2009)
From 'Perverts' to 'Fab Five': The Media's Changing Depiction of Gay Men and Lesbians.
London: Routledge
Note: Treat with extreme caution sources labelled with this symbol!
