Students will form a comprehensive theoretical and practical understanding of non-hegemonic, diverging, and alternative performances of masculinity in various media of popular culture (video-/games, film, TV, graphic novels, books,...) in relation to established concepts, notions, and norms of gender, sexuality, and desire and will be able to trace major developments and movements over time. They will be familiar with key texts and know how to contextualise them in their specific time and theoretical framework.

Short theoretical inputs and plenary discussions of important theoretical texts and perspectives.Plenary discussions of selected texts in various media both ludic and linear.Student presentations of selected texts, as well as plenary analysis and discussions thereof.Contextualised shared interpretation of selected example passages.

Mainstream representations in the various media of popular culture create highly heteronormative, hegmonic social spaces, especially also where performances of masculinity are concerned. In this course, we will investigate representations of non-hegemonic, divergent, and alternative masculinities across media, exploring questions of the body, identity, sexuality, attraction, and desire inherently connected to a wide spectrum of masculine gender performances and sexual identities. We will explore possible causes and origins of normative pressures, theoretical perspectives on how they function and could be changed, as well as selected textual examples from media of a wide range.

All relevant literature will be made available on Moodle.Students are expected to own or have access to at least a copy of the text they are presenting.

The final grade is an aggregate of...20% Active participation in class: Come prepared, read required texts, do additional research if necessary; think critically, and contribute to discussions and analyses.30% Presentation (45min): Introduce and discuss a text of your choice in any medium of popular culture for its representations of non-hegemonic masculinity (20min), do a Q&A (10min), moderate a plenary, in-depth analysis of one example passage (15min); write-up of presentation and any issues brought up during the Q&A as well as the analysis in a short academic paper to be uploaded on Moodle no later than two weeks after the presentation (pdf, 1500 words per presenter).50% SE-paper (4000 words): Academic paper presenting an in-depth critique of a text of your choice, a comparative study of several texts, or a theoretical argument about non-hegemonic masculinities in popular culture, to be uploaded on Moodle and handed in as printed copy no later than Feb 28, 2025, 23:59 (pdf, 4000 words).If a student fails one pillar of assessment (participation, presentation, or paper), they fail the entire seminar!

Texts covered in class (both theoretical as well as primary texts). Concepts of masculinity and queerness introduced, socio-cultural context and history of example texts. Students can freely choose the topic of their final paper within the framework of the class topic.

Quality and quantity of information, precision and depth of analysis, structure and quality of argument, quality and quantity of secondary sources used.The use of AI support or AI-generated text without direct permission from teachers is prohibited in this course!In order to check whether this ban is respected, there is the possibility of a compulsory, individual, and oral follow-up defence of any submitted or presented work. Should the use of AI be detected in any assignment, or a follow-up defence not be sufficient, the task concerned will automatically receive a fail-grade and your violation will be reported to university leadership, just as is the case with any other form of academic dishonesty or cheating.