EXWR 112-01

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, & TRANSGENDER ISSUES IN WRITING

 21 September 1999

Paper 3: Language in Motion

In this paper I'd like to you to examine how spoken or visually coded language operates to construct notions of sexuality and/or gender in the context of a film or television program or work in the art museum. You will need to take this paper through three stages:

• Stage 1 (due by 6 pm on Thurs., Sept. 23)--email me (Jan.Cooper@oberlin.edu) to tell me what film, television program, or art work you plan to write about. Explain briefly why you chose that subject.
• Stage 2 (due as an Word-RTF formatted attachment to an email message sent to Jan.Cooper@oberlin.edu by 6 pm on Tues., Sept. 28)--write a first draft of your paper focusing on one aspect in the film or program or art work that you find an interesting construction of sexuality or gender. Describe the construction and exactly how you see it working. At the end of this draft, please add a note telling me what you think of it--what in it you like, what you might have had problems with, what you'd like help improving.
• Stage 3 (due as an Word-RTF formatted attachment to an email message sent to Jan.Cooper@oberlin.edu by 6 pm on Tues., Oct. 5)--revise your first draft, seeing if your viewing of Celluloid Closet and our subsequent discussion has altered your original ideas in any way. At the end of this draft, also please add a note telling me what you think of it--what in it you like, what you might have had problems with, what you'd like help improving, how you think you changed it from the first draft.