by Dr John Rhym

In film studies, the term “body genre” is used to tag cinematic works based on the emotions and physical reactions that they represent onscreen and stimulate in their viewers, often in pronounced or even excessive ways. This course will focus on three body genres in particular – horror, slapstick comedy, and melodrama – and read them alongside discourses on affect in psychology, aesthetics, and cultural politics. By situating the mass production of sensation within and against various theoretical frameworks, we will examine how narrative media circulate shared emotions that bind and contest collective identities.