I have chosen film, cinema, in my work in order to theorize difficult questions regarding democracy and difference.  There are, however, many points of caution in choosing to use film.  Films often can reinforce and affirm stereotyped and demeaning images of others; that is, film is as effective a tool for installing as it is for challenging and overcoming oppression.  However, as I write in Chapter One, the fictionalized realism of film can allow for a sharing of the different experiences that individuals live through and can serve as a helpful tool to uncover the raw materials that make up our various social or cultural identities.  In other words, and more specifically, film and film criticism facilitate the search for a location from which to envision a democratic politics in ways that are respectful of difference and that quite possibly can contribute to the transformation of one’s sensibilities by providing an opportunity to theorize and imagine a new or emerging politics from a position of eyewitness

Identify two films not presented in class that you believe have the potential to transform one’s political sensibilities pertaining to deep differences. In addition to your recommendations, be sure to give a full citation and a short abstract for each of the two films you suggest. To add a new post, click the “My Recommendation” link below

American film 

Released in the last 5 years with citation 

and it can’t be one of those films

Recommended Feature Length Film Texts:

Beach Rats, 2017; Directed by Eliza Hittman

Boys Don’t  Cry, 1998; Directed by Kimberly Pierce

Boyz ‘N the Hood , 1991; Directed by John Singleton 

Call Me By Your Name, 2017; Directed by Luca Quadagnino

Cesar Chavez: An American Hero , 2014; Directed by Diego Luna

Do the Right Thing, 1989; Directed by Spike Lee

Get Out, 2017; Directed by Jordan Peele

Loving , 2016; Directed by Jeff Nichols

Milk, 2008; Directed by Gus Van Sant

Moonlight, 2016; Directed by Barry Jenkins

My Own Private Idaho, 1991; Directed by Gus Van Sant

Selma, 2014; Directed by Ava DuVernay

Smoke Signals, 1998; Directed by Chris Eyre

Stonewall: Where Pride Began, 2015; Directed by Roland Emmerich

Straight Outta Compton, 2015; Directed by F. Gary Gray

The Birth of a Nation, 2016; Directed by Nate Parker

Twelve Years a Slave, 2013; Directed by Steve McQueen

Required Documentary Film Texts (Democracy and Difference website):

*13th, 2016; Directed by Ava DuVernay

A Place of Rage, 1991; Directed by Pratibha Parmar

America in Black &White: A Question of Identity, 2003; Films for Humanities and Science

A Family Portrait, 2011; Directed by Melissa Leu and Jeff Haig (Student Film)

Cultural Criticism & Transformation, 1997; Featuring bell hooks and Directed by Sut Jhally

Ethnic Notions, 1986; Directed by Marlon Riggs

Exploring Society: Gender, 2005

Exploring Society: Race and Ethnicity, 2005

Exploring Society: Social Class, 2008

Further Off the Straight and Narrow: New Gay Visibility on Television, 2006; Katherine Sender Generation M: 

Misogyny in Media and Culture, 2013; Directed by Thomas Keith 

How Racism Harms White America, 2013; Directed by John Bracey 

*

I Am Not Your Negro, 2016; Directed by Raoul Peck

Latinos Beyond Reel: Challenging a Media Stereotype, 2012 

Off the Straight andNarrow: Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals & Television, 1998 

On White Privilege, 2008; Featuring Tim Wise

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, 2006; Directed by Sut Jhally

Responding to Diversity; 2011; Directed by Rise Sanders Weir and Tracy Ullman

Soundtrack for a Revolution, 2009; Directed by Bill Guttentag

The Brandon Teena Story, 1998; Directed by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir

The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men, 2011; Directed by Thomas Keith 

*

The Celluloid Closet, 1995; Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

The Empathy Gap: Masculinity & The Courage to Change, 2015; Directed by Thomas Keith 

The Origins of Cultural Studies, 1989 ; Featuring Stuart Hall

*

The Times of Harvey Milk, 1984; Directed by Rob Epstein

White Like Me, 2013; Featuring Tim Wise and Directed by S. Morris