Pedagogical moments: affective sexual literacies in film

Abstract

This paper considers three pedagogical moments in the film Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010), contemplating the way in which they open a space for conversations about feelings, sexuality and gender. Tomorrow, When the War Began follows the plight of 17-year-old Ellie who returns to her rural town from a camping trip with her friends, to find Australia has been invaded. The film combines the chaos and confusion of war with the happiness and confusion of intimate relationships. In this way, the film both engages viewers and encourages them to recognise and explore their feelings. In Australian and New Zealand schools, emotions and pleasure are often absent from sex education. Considering a film, the relationships it portrays, and the way it makes an individual feel, can go some way to reducing this gap. This paper considers the sexual literacies developed while watching the film and explains how the intersection of affect and film can assist in the identification and critique of heteronormativity by considering the relationships portrayed.