Illustrate and critically discuss the notion that contemporary cinema or television play a significant role in maintaining heteronormativity.

Guidance

For general guidance about what is expected in your essays for this module, see the guidelines for writing essays and reports.

What Key Features Do I Look For? Familiarity with relevant texts Evidence - the stronger the better Argument - coherent and balanced Theoretical discussion - relation to relevant theories Understanding of relevant concepts Reflexivity - reflections on methodology Examples - insightfully analysed Style - readability and effective presentation

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: Explain as clearly as possible what you understand heteronormativity to be, with reference to the concept in the writings of theorists such as Michael Warner and Adrienne Rich. Consider a range of films but also anchor your text in extended discussions of particular films. Do not confine yourself to films shown in the module's screening sessions. At all costs, avoid 'moralising' about the subject - about what film-makers or policymakers should or should not do about this - stick to the topic!

Some suggested reading

• Abelove, Henry, Michele Alna Barale & David Halperin (Eds) (1993) Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. London: Routledge
• Benshoff, Harry M. (1997) Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film. Manchester: Manchester University Press
• Berger, Peter & Thomas Luckmann (1991) The Social Construction of Reality. Harmondsworth: Penguin [difficult, but a classic, though not about heteronormativity as such]
• Blakemore, J. E. (2003) 'Children's Beliefs About Violating Gender Norms: Boys Shouldn't Look Like Girls, and Girls Shouldn't Act Like Boys', Sex Roles 48: 411-19.
• Blashill, A. J. & K. K. Powlishta (2009) 'The Impact of Gender Role and Sexual Orientation on Evaluations of Men', Psychology of Men & Masculinity 10: 160-73
• Burston, Paul (1995) A Queer Romance: Lesbians, Gay Men and Popular Culture. London: Routledge
• Butler, Judith (1999) Gender Trouble. London: Routledge
• Chambers, Deborah (2001) Representing the Family. London: Sage
• Chandler, Daniel (1997) 'Media Representation' [WWW document] URL http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Modules/FM34120/represent.html
  
• Clum, John M. (2002) He's All Man: Learning Masculinity, Gayness, and Love from American Movies. London: Palgrave
• Connell, R. (2005) Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity.
• 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 (Ed.) (1977) Gays and Film. London: British Film Institute [recommended]
  
• Dyer, Richard (1993) The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation. London: Routledge [recommended]
  
• Fuss, Diane (Ed) (1991) Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories. London: Routledge
• Golom, F. D. & J. J. Mohr (2011) 'Turn it Off! The Effects of Exposure to Male-Male Homoerotic Imagery on Heterosexuals' Attitudes toward Gay Men', Journal of Sex Research 48(6): 580-9.
• Gross, Larry & James D Woods (1999) The Columbia Reader on Lesbians & Gay Men in Media, Society & Politics. New York: Columbia University Press
• Hanson, Ellis (Ed) (1999) Out Takes: Essays on Queer Theory and Film. Durham, NH: Duke University Press
• Harwood, Sarah (1997) Family Fictions: Representations of the Family in 1980s Hollywood Cinema. London: Macmillan
• Howell, Chris (2003) 'The Role of Contemporary Cinema in Maintaining Heteronormativity' [WWW document] URL http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/media/Students/cah0201.doc (student essay)
• Ingraham, Chrys (2005) Thinking Straight: The Power, the Promise, and the Paradox of Heterosexuality. New York: Routledge
• Jackson, Earl (1995) Strategies of Deviance: Studies in Gay Male Representation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
• Jackson, Stevi (1999) Heterosexuality in Question. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
• Jagose, Annamarie (1997) Queer Theory: an Introduction. New York: New York University Press
• Katz, Jonathan Ned (2007) The Invention of Heterosexuality. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
• Keller, James R. (2002) Queer (Un)Friendly Film and Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland
• Lester, P. M. & S. D. Ross (Eds) (2003) Images that Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media. (2nd edn). Westport, CT: Praeger
• Linneman, T. J. (2008) 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Will Truman? : The Feminization of Gay Masculinities on Will and Grace', Men & Masculinity 10(5): 583-603
• Mangin, D. (1989) 'College Course File: The History of Lesbians and Gays on Film', Journal of Film and Video 413: 50-66
• Medhurst, Andy & Sally R. Munt (1997) Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical Introduction. London: Cassell
• Mellen, Joan (1978) Big Bad Wolves: Masculinity in the American Film. London: Elm Tree
• Munday, Rod (2005) 'The Role of Contemporary Cinema in Maintaining Heteronormativity' [WWW document] URL http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/media/Students/ram0210/ram0210.html (student essay)
• Nardi, P. M. (2000) Gay Masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Raley, A. B. & J. L. Lucas (2006) 'Stereotype or Success? Prime Time Television's Portrayals of Gay Male, Lesbian, and Bisexual Characters', Journal of Homosexuality 51(2): 19-38
• Rich, Adrienne ([1980] 1986) 'Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence'. In Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. New York: Norton. pp. 23-75
• Richardson, Diane (1996) 'Heterosexuality and Social Theory'. In Diane Richardson (Ed) Theorizing Heterosexuality: Telling it Straight. Buckingham: Open University Press, pp. 1-20
• Russo, Vito (1987) The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies. New York: HarperCollins
• Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky (1992) Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press
• Spence, Jo & Patricia Holland (Eds) (1991) Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography. London: Virago
• Spicer, Andrew (2003) Typical Men: The Representation of Masculinity in Popular British Cinema. London: Tauris
• Steinberg, Deborah Lynn, Debbie Epstein & Richard Johnson (Eds) (1997) Border Patrols: Policing the Boundaries of Heterosexuality. London: Cassell
• Tincknell, Estella (2005) Mediating the Family: Gender, Culture and Representation. London: Hodder Arnold
• Ward, Jon (1987) 'The Nature of Heterosexuality'. In Gillian Hanscombe and Martin Humphries (Eds) Heterosexuality. London: Gay Men's Press: 145-69
• Warner, Michael (1994) Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory. Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota Press; online extract [essential for references to heteronormativity]
• Warner, Michael (1999) The Trouble with Normal. New York: Free Press
• Wood, R. (2007) 'On and around Brokeback Mountain', Film Quarterly 60(3): 28-31