Modern Monsters: Contemporary American Texts

Module code: AM3039

This module explores the experience of the ‘Other’: those who are treated as monsters because their gender, race, or sexuality do not conform to the accepted norms, whose bodies are 'different' or who challenge the ideals of the United States in the 1990s and 2000s.

In this module you'll discuss contemporary fiction, plays, and films, which will help us think about how and why social standards develop, and what is at stake in protecting or upsetting what is considered ‘normal’. What do the texts we read and watch tell us about the dangers and rewards of being different in America?