Queerness in the Failed Coming of Age Narrative

A discussion-based exploration of how queerness challenges the traditional Coming of Age/ BildungsRoman structure across different modes of storytelling. Examines how and why queer protagonists 'fail' to come of age by the standards of cisheteronormative capitalism, with additional focus on mental health/trauma, class, race, etc. and how all of these identities intersect. Course readings include Mysterious Skin (film/optional novel, dir. Gregg Araki), Night in the Woods (video game/recorded playthrough, Finji studios), BFF (play, Anna Ziegler), and Puberty 2 (musical album, Mitski), and analysis will consider the theories presented in Jack Halberstam's The Queer Art of Failure.