Judith Halberstam: Queer Animation lecture

Judith Halberstam: Queer Animation (University of California, San Diego)

A public lecture presented by the Department of Film, Television and Media Studies, The University of Auckland

The University of Auckland's Department of Film, Television and Media Studies is pleased to announce a public lecture by internationally renowned queer theorist Judith Halberstam on August 7, 2008.

A Professor of English and Director of the Centre for Feminist Research at the University of California at San Diego, Halberstam has carved a reputation for her ground-breaking work on gender. Her first book, Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters (1995), explored the impact of gothic culture across film and media. Her second work, Female Masculinity (1998), subverted conventional gender paradigms by arguing that masculinity does not belong to men. Halberstam's most recent book, In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender bodies, Subcultural Lives (2005), further extends this exploration of gender by examining queer subcultures and the increasing visibility of transgender culture in the popular sphere.

Enigmatic, insightful and frank, Halberstam is a well-known academic personality in high demand on international speaking circuits. A regular journalist for BITCH and The Nation, she is also a participant in the drag king community, a topic that formed the backbone for a photo essay work The Drag King Book, co-authored by Del LaGrace Volcano.

In this lecture, Halberstam once again challenges the mainstream conception of gender by highlighting elements in children's Pixar animation films that many of us overlook. Referring to films such as Shrek, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. as examples of what she terms the “Pixarvolt” genre, Halberstam highlights the subtextual connections that these films make between queer embodiment and communitarian revolt. What emerges is a picture of children's animation films distinct from many of its adult counterparts in its imaginative possibilities for the construction of future inclusive communities.

7 August, 6:30pm, Lecture Theatre B4, Owen G. Glenn Building

12 Grafton Rd, University of Auckland

This seminar is presented as part of the Department of Film, Television and Media Studies Seminar Series, Semester 2, 2008

ENDS

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