COMM 305: Race, Class, and Gender in Media

Marymount Manhattan College
Spring 2021

Instructor: Sara Martucci, PhD 

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1-2pm via zoom 
Email: smartucci@mmm.edu

Class Meetings: This class is online and will meet asynchronously, with live office hours via
zoom each week. The class will start each week on a Tuesday and end on Mondays. You must
check in to the class multiple times throughout the week for reading/viewing materials and to
participate on the discussion board. I recommend a minimum of three times per week:
Tuesdays (to see the weekly plan); Thursday or Friday (to submit initial discussion board post);
and over the weekend (to comment on two additional posts).

Course Description: This course explores how issues of race, class, sexuality, and gender are
mediated by, and organize our experience of, film and television from technological
specifications to issues of narrative and political economy. We will approach these issues
through two critical lenses. First, we will encounter the core theoretical concepts developed by
film and media scholars, Marxist activists, and pioneers in the fields of critical race theory,
queer theory, and third-wave feminism. Second, we will investigate how these and other
concepts have been taken up, modified, and challenged by popular critics, lay audiences, and
fan subcultures in order to both embrace and deconstruct the media they consume. 

Learning Goals:
At the completion of this course, you should be able to:
 identify the historical and structural issues that inform discriminatory
representations of race/class/gender in media,
 articulate how these issues re-inscribe hegemonic relations of race/class/gender, 
 analyze how mediated representations of race/class/gender reflect the history of
raced, classed, and gendered inequalities
 demonstrate, through written and oral work, the ability to analyze media in relation
to social, historical, and political formations of race/class/gender.

Course Materials:
 All readings are available online, either on Blackboard or via the web. You will need to
purchase some screenings through various platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, or Youtube 
Marymount Course Policies:
Academic Honesty:
MMC fosters an academic community where students and faculty work together to create a
learning experience that imparts knowledge and forms character. All work submitted should be
done by the student in preparation for this specific class (for example, you may not hand in a
paper for this class that you are also preparing for another class). Plagiarism and cheating of
any kind will not be tolerated. Students will jeopardize their grade not just for the assignment
but also for the entire course. If a student has difficulty understanding how to cite sources or
has questions concerns the above, contact the professor as soon as possible. The College
requires all members of the community to adhere to the policy of Academic Honesty that can
be found in the Student Handbook, the College Catalogue and on the College website.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities (learning, physical or
psychological) who require reasonable accommodations or academic adjustments for a course
must be registered with the Office of Disability Services or enrolled in the Academic Access
Program. With students’ permission, faculty members are notified each semester by
CONFIDENTIAL email that a student with documented disabilities is enrolled in their class and is
eligible for accommodations. If a student has questions regarding the Office of Disability
Services or accommodations, please email disabilityservices@mmm.edu
This office is located in Room 500, 5th floor of Carson Hall. Please be aware that audio
recording class lectures and discussions is an accommodation some students may use when it is
approved through the Office of Disability Services. If approved, the student signs a contract
agreeing to keep all recordings confidential, not share them with others, and to destroy all
recordings after completing the course.

Attendance Policy Referring to Religious or Pregnancy/Childbirth-Related Absences

This is an online, asynchronous class. Live office hours and film screenings will take place on
Tuesdays, but attendance is not required. All students must check into the class multiple times
per week: on Tuesdays to view the weekly plan; and again before Friday to post on the
discussion board and before the following Monday to respond to others posts. Please note,
however, that students will not be penalized for religious or pregnancy- or childbirth-related
absences. Absences for these reasons will not be counted toward the allowed number of
absences in this course. Please inform me about absences related to pregnancy, childbirth, or
religious observation.

Policy on Recording of Classes

Please be aware that audio recording or photographing online or in-person classes is strictly
prohibited unless a student has received explicit permission from the instructor. An exception is
made for students who have registered with the Office of Disability Services and have been
granted prior approval to receive audio recordings, which can be provided by the course
instructor. Students with approval to receive recordings must sign a contract agreeing to keep
all recordings confidential, not share or disseminate them in any form, and to destroy all
recordings after completing the course. Instructors are also required to inform students if they
will be recording a class session.

Hate Speech
Hate Speech of any kind is not tolerated in my class, including on the discussion board and
written papers. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, ableism or any other
kind of insidious prejudice has no place in the classroom. If you are using hate speech in class
you will be asked to cease your participation in that week’s discussion board.

Course Grade

Assignments
Your grade in this course will have four components:

Weekly Discussion Boards….. 49%

The Discussion Board is a critical venue for developing intellectual relationships with your
instructor and your classmates. You will be expected to participate in 14 graded Discussion
Forums throughout the semester. Participation means posting an initial focused response to
the topic in approximately 150 words by Friday night (worth up to 2.5 points) and responding
to at least two of your classmates by Monday night (worth up to .5 point each). You must
complete the required readings + viewings prior to posting.

Video Presentation: Analyzing Race, Class, and Gender in Advertisements…. 16%

Halfway through the semester you will make a short video presentation where you will utilize
course concepts to analyze a series of advertisements. More details to come.

Paper Outline…. 10%

An outline of your final paper including citations for academic and popular sources as well as a
full introduction to the paper.

Final Paper: Analyzing Race, Class, and Gender in Films/TV…. 25%

You are expected to write one 6-7 page paper in which you will employ a critical framework in
the analysis of a media text of your choice. This is a chance to engage with the readings while
focusing on a media text you find particularly interesting. You are welcome to apply the course
concepts to a film, tv series, or music album; you may also explore social media, or other forms
of media that you find interesting. Instructions and grading rubric will be posted in the final
third of the semester.
Grading Scale C+ = 77.0-79.9
A= 93.0-100.0 C= 73.0-76.9
A- = 90.0-92.9 C- = 70.0-72.9
B+ = 87.0-89.9 D= 60.0-69.9
B= 83.0-86.9 F= 0-59.9
B- = 80.0-82.9
Weekly Plan
**Please note this is preliminary. Check the “Weekly Plan” tab on Blackboard each week for
updates and specific instructions**

Week 1: Course Welcome & Introductions 

Watch:
Welcome Video
Read:
Chapters 1, 23, 29 & 31 from Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan

Week 2:  Narratives in Media 

Read:
“PSA: Your Narrative Settings Are Not Apolitical” by Foz Meadows
Listen:
“Newsrooms Need to Reflect the Communities They Cover” Panel from Truth and
Transformation Conference

Week 3:
Representation
Read: 
“The Work of Representation” from Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying
Practices by Stuart Hall 
Watch:
“About Those Karen Memes You’ve Seen”

Week 4: Perspectives 
Listen: 
“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band 
Lyrics
Read:
“The Troublesome Case of ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by Jack Hamilton from Slate
“Virginia” by Ta-Nehisi Coates from The Atlantic 

Week 5: Blackness in American Media

Read:
“The Fact of Blackness” from Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
Watch: 
Black is King by Beyoncé  (1 month subscription to Disney+ needed- $7; or $13 bundled with
Hulu)

Week 6: White Supremacy & Race in America

Read: 
Excerpt from White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
“Blackophilia and Blackophobia: White Youth, the Consumption of Rap Music, and White
Supremacy” by Bill Youssman, Communication Theory
Watch:
This is America- Childish Gambino
Sorry to Bother You- Boots Riley  (1 month subscription for Hulu $7) 

Week 7: Indigenous Depictions vs Creations

Read:
Representations of Native Americans in the Mass Media
Watch:
Bihttos- The Rebel
Delivery From Earth
My Father’s Tools

Week 8: Analyzing Advertisements- Video Presentation

How to Analyze an Advertisement
The Perpetuation of Subtle Prejudice: Race and Gender Imagery in 1990s Television Advertising

Week 9: Performing Gender 

Reading:
“Doing Gender” by Candace West and Don Zimmerman
Watch:
Big Mouth (episode TBD) (1 month subscription to Netflix, $9)
Video Presentation Due

Week 10: Masculinity 

Watch:
“What’s a Real Man?” from Decoded
Moonlight (Netflix) or Joker (Hulu) (choose one)
Reading:
“The Real Problem with Toxic Masculinity” from The Conversation

Week 11: Intersections- Preparing for Paper

Watch:
Roma (Netflix)
Read:
“Roma and Class, Race, and Gender in Film” from Without Reservations
Roma: Film Review by Zuleyka Zevallos from The Other Sociologist

Week 12: Transgender Perspectives//Paper Outline Due

Watch: 
Gender Critical- Contrapoints with Natalie Wynn
A Fantastic Woman ($4 on youtube) 

Week 13: Inequality and Performance of Wealth

Watch:
Parasite (Hulu)
Reading:
“The Stranger” by Georg Simmel

Week 14: Socioeconomic Status & Socialization

Watch:
The Florida Project (Netflix) 
Reading:
Excerpt from Unequal Childhoods by Anette Lareau 
Optional: “Some Movies Actually Understand Poverty in America” from The New York Times

Week 15: Final Paper

Due: Thursday, May 20th