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Face Card: Beauty and Contemporary Media (ENGL 118C, Studies in Visual Culture)

In a world increasingly dominated by images, the power of one’s “face card” seems increasingly important. This course explores contemporary manipulations of the face in photography, film, and digital media to understand the significance of facial beauty in current debates over desire, identity, and surveillance. Objects of study include Kim Kardashian’s Selfish (2015), GRWM videos, makeup tutorials, Moshtari Hilal’s Ugliness (2025), and Paris is Burning (1990).