Macquarie University

Screening (Ab)normal Bodies - CUL322

Our bodies give us a world, and have meaning, both for ourselves and others. We are directed at every level to align our bodies with cultural norms – but what about modes of embodiment that don't conform to what we generally understand as 'normal’? In this unit, we turn our attention to unquestioned assumptions about what constitutes a ‘normal’ body, consider how these norms are created and think through the experiences of people whose modes of bodily being challenge the boundaries of the ‘normative’. The aim of this unit is to critically examine the ways in which various forms of (ab)normal embodiment are understood in contemporary culture and to explore the social, political and ethical effects of such understandings. Our critical examination may cover disability, pregnancy, fatness, ageing, surgical interventions and other forms of body modification. Lectures, tutorials and assessments will draw extensively on screen texts, particularly documentaries and autobiographical video and film, to explore ideas about “normal” and “abnormal” bodies played out across the media and come to form part of everyday practice.