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: Anchor your text in detailed discussions of particular
incidents. To what extent within each relationship are individuals represented as conventionally
'masculine' or 'feminine' (and in what ways)? Are the protagonists in each relationship both gay; is one person
represented as 'converting' the other (and how)? Conventional representations of gender in terms of
activity vs. passivity see 'taking the initiative' as inherently 'masculine', of course (are there any
instances of this in either of these films?).
Beware of slipping into gender essentialism in your own
commentary (remember to distiguish correctly between sex and gender; do not equate one with the other).
Do not rely solely on your own judgements: seek (anonymous) responses from other audience members to these issues.
Note also that this is an assignment for which the
inclusion of relevant pictorial illustrations may be useful.
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
- Basow, Susan A. (1992)
Gender: Stereotypes and Roles. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole
- Bergling, Tim (2001)
Sissyphobia: Gay Men and Effeminate Behavior. New York: Harrington Park Press
- Blank, Hanne (2012)
Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality. Boston. MA: Beacon Press
- Clum, John M. (2002)
He's All Man: Learning Masculinity, Gayness, and Love from American Movies.
London: Palgrave
- Dervin, Daniel (1985)
Through a Freudian Lens Deeply: A Psychoanalysis of Cinema.
Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press
- Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2003)
Straight: Constructions of Heterosexuality in the Cinema.
Albany: State University Of New York Press
- Dyer, Richard (Ed.) (1977)
Gays and Film. London: British Film Institute
- Dyer, Richard (1990)
Now You See It: Studies on Lesbian and Gay Film.
London: Routledge
- Dyer, Richard (1993)
The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation.
London: Routledge
- Easthope, Anthony (1986)
What a Man's Gotta Do: The Masculine Myth in Popular Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman
- Farmer, Brett (2000)
Spectacular Passions: Cinema, Fantasy, Gay Male Spectatorships.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press
- Griffiths, Robin (Ed) (2006)
British Queer Cinema.. London: Routledge
- Jackson, Earl (1995)
Strategies of Deviance: Studies in Gay Male Representation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
- Keller, James R (2002)
Queer (Un)Friendly Film and Television.
Jefferson, NC: McFarland [very useful for this assignment]
- Lang, Robert (2002)
Masculine Interests: Homoerotics in Hollywood Film. New York: Columbia University Press
- 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
- Mackinnon, Kenneth (1997)
Uneasy Pleasures: The Male as an Erotic Object. London: Cygnus
- 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
- Pronger, Brian (1990)
The Arena of Masculinity: Sports, Homosexuality and the Meaning of Sex. New York: St Martin's Press
- Proulx, Annie, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana (2006)
Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay. Londom: Harper
- Russo, Vito (1987)
The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies.
New York: HarperCollins
- Schneider, David J. (2004)
The Psychology of Stereotyping.
New York: Guilford Press
- Spicer, Andrew (2001)
Typical Men: The Representation of Masculinity in Popular British Cinema. London: Tauris
- Stacy, Jim (Ed) (2007)
Reading 'Brokeback Mountain'. Jefferson, NC: McFarland
Note: Treat with extreme caution sources labelled with this symbol!