Norms and Margins in French Cinema

Module code: FR3140

This module will focus on the representations of a range of norms and margins (social, cultural, gender, sexual, ethnic, generational, physical, etc.) in French cinema and examine them in light of the sociopolitical context of their time. We will study a series of films which present marginal characters, communities and spaces and unveil mechanisms of domination, power, exclusion, alienation and oppression. You will also be introduced to the cinematic strategies and formal choices used to represent them and will consider how these convey particular messages.

Topics covered

• Social norms and codes
• Essentialism versus constructivism
• Social class and domination/oppression
• Gender, sexuality and domination/oppression
• Ethnicity and domination/oppression
• Culture and domination/oppression
• Physical ability and domination/oppression
• Marginality, alterity and hybridity
• Resistance and transgression