Theory

Here you can find a range of texts introducing different theoretical aspects of diversity in film and media, as well as relevant bibliography and resources.

Why VR is suitable for diversity training?

What do we call VR today? Why the medium of VR can facilitate diversity in various environments? How to use it for various studies? Short summary about the use of virtual reality in various fields.

Queer Theory

Historically linked to forms of political activism in the wake of the North American AIDS epidemic, queer theory gained momentum in the 1990s at university departments of literature, film, and critical studies in the United States and Europe. Since the early 1990s queer theory has introduced new transdisciplinary modes of theorizing.

Ethnicity, Race and Cinema: Blackness and Film

Since the early 1990s Black feminist film studies and critical race theory have addressed racist stereotypes in mainstream cinema and analyzed the hegemony of ‘whiteness’ in film and visual culture. On the one hand, research on the visual and narrative representation of race and ethnicities has profoundly enriched the methodologies of film analysis. On the other, archival research and publications have recovered the history and wide range of African American film productions.

Decolonising Film Studies

Decolonising representation and film by bringing a postcolonial perspective to the table empowers omitted perspectives and histories to be included. For film schools, this also requires decolonizing processes in film education.

Critical Pedagogy and Film Education

In order to be attentive to diversity issues, film and media education must critically explore their pedagogical practices. This text offers an introduction to the field of critical pedagogy, highlighting some of its key texts before exploring the ways in which this perspective can be applied to the teaching of film theory and film production.

Lessons from feminist journalism in Latin America

A short overview about Latin American feminist journalism, digital support systems and transnational collectivity.

Roma representation in focus - Critical pedagogical approach in film education

How can we learn about Europe’s biggest minority, the Roma, who are still heavily discriminated against, and avoid the constant repetition of their historical traumas and victimization? Although their oppression and discrimination in several epochs and different regions are recognized facts that have been analysed and understood, we can enhance and expand our knowledge of them with the help of contemporary Roma art, media and academics and turn it into something else: a deliberating process of ‘unlearning the inherent dominative mode’ (Raymond Williams).

Media representation of disability

The struggle to change the rights and living conditions of people with disabilities is strongly linked to the disability movements, and disability studies has evolved alongside disability policy (Goodley, 2017). Disability studies examines disability issues exclusively in a social context, which is why media studies has a prominent role in understanding the complex phenomenon of disability. Filmmaker and activist Simi Linton, among others, laments that disabled characters on screen are usually portrayed as childish, incompetent, passive or unfriendly, rarely in control of their own lives - responsibly or actively seeking and getting what they want and need (Davis, 2006).

Essential for whom? Canon creation and reflection

In order to be attentive to diversity issues, film and media education must critically reflect established film canons and the process of canon creation itself. This text offers an introduction to the field of canon reflection and critique by highlighting some of its key texts and questions.