General Information
Course Description
525 - Formations of Fantasy - This course will provide an overview of various theories of fantasy from the nineteenth century to the present, beginning with those developed by psychoanalytic theorists, then reshaped by feminist, queer and postcolonial film, literary, and cultural theorists. We will read these different theories in conjunction with texts drawn from film, television, performance, photography, and the audiovisual arts. Each of our enabling fictions image the narrative structures of fantasy as a central aspect of their construction. We will look at how the theories take shape in particular texts as case studies, and the role fantasy plays in shaping narrativity, engendering subjects, and grappling with historical and psychic traumas. By analyzing these various theoretical questions and structures, we will explore how fantasies of not only gender and sexuality but also race, ethnicity, and nation situate particular kinds of subjects in their historical, political, and (trans)national landscapes.
Theoretical readings will be drawn from Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Jean Laplanche and J.B. Pontalis, Victor Burgin, Leo Bersani, Diana Fuss, Jean Walton, Lauren Berlant, Teresa de Lauretis, Patricia White, Carla Freccero, Gayatri Gopinath, Ann Cvetcovich, Douglas Crimp, Kaja Silverman, Avery Gordon, Kobena Mercer, Rey Chow, Richard Fung, and Eduardo Glissant. See a more detailed course description.
Selected literary texts will be drawn from: Beloved, Toni Morrison; The Book of Salt, Monique Truong; Cereus Blooms at Night, Shani Motoo; Milk of Amnesia, Carmelita Tropicana (w/video); Mumbo Jumbo, Ishmael Reed; The Salt Eaters, Toni Cade Bambara; The Way the Crow Flies, Ann-Marie MacDonald; Wonder When You'll Miss Me, Amanda Davis
Selected films will be drawn from: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul; Angels in America; The Attendant; Bad Education; Broken Sky; Centre Stage -- The Actress; The Decay of Fiction; Far From Heaven; Happy Together; Hiroshima, Mon Omour; Looking for Langston; M. Butterfly; Meeting Two Queens; My Beautiful Laundrette; My Life in Pink; Mysterious Skin; The Night Porter; Noctourne; Rouge; She Must Be Seeing Things; Shortbus; Swimming Pool; Tarnation; Vertigo; Y tu mamá también
Audio/Visual arts texts will be drawn from Janet Cardiff (sound installation) and Cindy Sherman and Kara Walker (photography).
