4 Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Tuesdays, November 24 - December 15, 2026
7:00 - 9:00pm ET (NYC Time)
$160 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
The cinema has always been a peep show. From Victorian stripteases to ‘70s hardcore and beyond, audiences crave the sight of bare flesh in all its forms, the more exotic the better. In this class, author and film critic Payton McCarty-Simas will take students on a sightseeing tour through the cinematic red light district with a focus on kink and the kinds of sexual expression the Hays Office and the MPAA never wanted viewers to access. As the medium coalesced, the politics of erotics on screen became the ultimate battleground upon which questions of free expression were fought, particularly in the realms of the film noir and the erotic thriller. What is kink, what constitutes perversion, and xxxxx [missing text here?]
Over the course of four weeks, we will expand our cinematic horizons on this score, examining the history of sublimated kink and queerness in the ‘40s and ‘50s, deep diving into kink classics like 9 ½ Weeks (1986), Crash (1996), and Secretary (2002), and unpacking modern discourses around films like Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Babygirl (2024), and Pillion (2026).
Using a series of case studies across subgenres, we will explore the history and evolution of depictions of "aberrant" sexuality on screen, both narratively and aesthetically. Students will learn to deeply analyze films thematically and structurally, utilizing film theory, political history, and literary fiction. We will delve into cinematic form and visual aesthetics as well as narrative conventions, providing the opportunity for students to hone their skills as media analysts. Students will also engage with primary sources (film reviews, short stories, interviews with actors and directors, etc.) in addition to watching a film each week. Throughout, we will employ a queer lens to broaden and liberate definitions of kink in the context of cinema, working to trouble the moralistic underpinnings at the heart of mainstream depictions and highlight a range of voices in the historically masculine-dominated genre space.
Payton McCarty-Simas is a Brooklyn-based author, programmer, film critic, and the co-editor of The Brooklyn Rail’s film section. They hold a Masters in film and media studies from Columbia University, where she focused her research on horror film, psychedelia, and the occult in particular. Payton’s writing has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Horror Studies, Letterboxd Journal, Filmmaker Magazine, and others, and she is the author of two books, One Step Short of Crazy: National Treasure and the Landscape of American Conspiracy Culture, and That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film.
Images: The Devils. Directed by Ken Russell, production still featuring Vanessa Redgrave, Warner Bros., 1971; Hellraiser. Directed by Clive Barker, production still featuring Clare Higgins and Sean Chapman, New World Pictures, 1987;
4 Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Tuesdays, November 24 - December 15, 2026
7:00 - 9:00pm ET (NYC Time)
$160 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
The cinema has always been a peep show. From Victorian stripteases to ‘70s hardcore and beyond, audiences crave the sight of bare flesh in all its forms, the more exotic the better. In this class, author and film critic Payton McCarty-Simas will take students on a sightseeing tour through the cinematic red light district with a focus on kink and the kinds of sexual expression the Hays Office and the MPAA never wanted viewers to access. As the medium coalesced, the politics of erotics on screen became the ultimate battleground upon which questions of free expression were fought, particularly in the realms of the film noir and the erotic thriller. What is kink, what constitutes perversion, and xxxxx [missing text here?]
Over the course of four weeks, we will expand our cinematic horizons on this score, examining the history of sublimated kink and queerness in the ‘40s and ‘50s, deep diving into kink classics like 9 ½ Weeks (1986), Crash (1996), and Secretary (2002), and unpacking modern discourses around films like Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Babygirl (2024), and Pillion (2026).
Using a series of case studies across subgenres, we will explore the history and evolution of depictions of "aberrant" sexuality on screen, both narratively and aesthetically. Students will learn to deeply analyze films thematically and structurally, utilizing film theory, political history, and literary fiction. We will delve into cinematic form and visual aesthetics as well as narrative conventions, providing the opportunity for students to hone their skills as media analysts. Students will also engage with primary sources (film reviews, short stories, interviews with actors and directors, etc.) in addition to watching a film each week. Throughout, we will employ a queer lens to broaden and liberate definitions of kink in the context of cinema, working to trouble the moralistic underpinnings at the heart of mainstream depictions and highlight a range of voices in the historically masculine-dominated genre space.
Payton McCarty-Simas is a Brooklyn-based author, programmer, film critic, and the co-editor of The Brooklyn Rail’s film section. They hold a Masters in film and media studies from Columbia University, where she focused her research on horror film, psychedelia, and the occult in particular. Payton’s writing has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Horror Studies, Letterboxd Journal, Filmmaker Magazine, and others, and she is the author of two books, One Step Short of Crazy: National Treasure and the Landscape of American Conspiracy Culture, and That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film.
Images: The Devils. Directed by Ken Russell, production still featuring Vanessa Redgrave, Warner Bros., 1971; Hellraiser. Directed by Clive Barker, production still featuring Clare Higgins and Sean Chapman, New World Pictures, 1987;
