Feminist Film Studies


Book Description

This comprehensive textbook provides an accessible overview of the field of women and film, complemented by an analyses of key texts that illustrate major topics in the field. The text covers a wide range of areas in which women's representation and involvement in film are paramount issues.




Feminist Film Studies


Book Description

An introduction to feminist film theory as a discourse from the early seventies to the present. McCabe traces the broad ranging theories produced by feminist film scholarship, from formalist readings and psychoanalytical approaches to debates initiated by cultural studies, race and queer theory.




Feminist Film Theory


Book Description

For the past twenty-five years, cinema has been a vital terrain on which feminist debates about culture, representation, and identity have been fought. This anthology charts the history of those debates, bringing together the key, classic essays in feminist film theory. Feminist Film Theory maps the impact of major theoretical developments on this growing field-from structuralism and psychoanalysis in the 1970s, to post-colonial theory, queer theory, and postmodernism in the 1990s. Covering a wide range of topics, including oppressive images, "woman" as fetishized object of desire, female spectatorship, and the cinematic pleasures of black women and lesbian women, Feminist Film Theory is an indispensable reference for scholars and students in the field. Contributors include Judith Butler, Carol J. Clover, Barbara Creed, Michelle Citron, Mary Ann Doane, Teresa De Lauretis, Jane Gaines, Christine Gledhill, Molly Haskell, bell hooks, Claire Johnston, Annette Kuhn, Julia Lesage, Judith Mayne, Tania Modleski, Laura Mulvey, B. Ruby Rich, Kaja Silverman, Sharon Smith, Jackie Stacey, Janet Staiger, Anna Marie Taylor, Valerie Walkerdine, and Linda Williams.




Feminism and Film Theory


Book Description

First published in 1988. Feminism and Film Theory traces the major issues in feminist film theory as they have evolved over the last decade. Comprised of essays that are classics of this intellectually sophisticated area of cultural studies, Feminism and Film Theory makes available much sought after essays that are often difficult to find. Empha­sizing the polemical challenge of feminism to film theory, this anthology forces us to reconsider film theory's most basic ideas about genre, narrative, image, spec­tatorship, and audience. The essays offer a model for a politically engaged critique of contemporary thought. Feminism and Film Theory will be of great interest to students and scholars concerned with film, critical theory, art and media, cultural studies, or feminism.




Feminist Film Theorists


Book Description

Focusing on the ground-breaking work of Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis and Barbara Creed, this book explores how, since it began in the 1970s, feminist film theory has revolutionized the way that films and their spectators can be understood. Examining the new and distinctive approaches of each of these thinkers, this book provides the most detailed account so far of their ideas. It illuminates the six key concepts and demonstrates their value as tools for film analysis: the male gaze the female voice technologies of gender queering desire the monstrous-feminine masculinity in crisis. Testing their ideas with a number of other examples from contemporary cinema and TV, Shohini Chaudhuri shows how these four thinkers construct their theories through their reading of films. An excellent study companion for all students of film theory and women’s studies.




Studying Feminist Film Theory


Book Description

This book is aimed at helping media and film studies teachers introduce the basics of feminist film theory. No prior knowledge of feminist theory is required, the intended readers being university undergraduate teachers and students of film and media studies. Areas of emphasis include spectatorship, narrative, and ideology. Many illustrative case studies from popular cinema are used to offer students an opportunity to consider the connotations of visual and aural elements of film, narrative conflicts and oppositions, the implications of spectator "positioning" and viewer identification, and an ideological critical approach to film. Explanations of key terminology are included, along with classroom exercises and practice questions. Each chapter begins with key definitions and explanations of the concepts to be studied, including some historical background where relevant. Case studies include film noir, Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days and the work of directors Spike Lee, Claire Denis, and Paul Verhoeven. Studying Feminist Film Theory is a revised and expanded version of Feminist Film Studies: A Teacher's Guide, published by Auteur in 2007.




Film Feminisms


Book Description

Film Feminisms offers a global and updated overview of the history, present-day concerns, and future of feminist film and theory. It introduces frameworks from phenomenology, affect theory, and psychoanalysis to reception studies, new media theories, and critical historiography, as well as engaging with key issues in documentary ethics, genre theory, and star studies. This new textbook situates feminist film theory within the larger framework of transnational scholarly approaches, as well as decolonial, queer, disability studies, and critical race theories. It offers a much-needed update on pedagogical approaches to feminist film studies, providing discussions of filmmakers and films that have been overlooked in the field, or that are overdue for further analysis. Each chapter is supported by a variety of pedagogical features including activities, key terms, and case studies. Many of the activities draw on contemporary digital media, such as social media and streaming platforms, to update the field to today's changing media landscape.




Research Anthology on Feminist Studies and Gender Perceptions


Book Description

Global society has always been impacted by the perception of gender. While gender roles may differ in certain cultures, many cultures around the world have allowed for the disempowerment and objectification of women. Women today still struggle for gender equality whether it be professionally, socially, or even legally. To examine feminism thoroughly, however, thorough analysis must be conducted on all genders and perceptions. The Research Anthology on Feminist Studies and Gender Perceptions explores the application of feminist theory and women empowerment in the 21st century and the role that gender plays in society. This book analyzes media representation, gender performativity, and theory to present a comprehensive view of gender and society. Covering topics such as masculinity, women empowerment, and gender equality, this two-volume comprehensive major reference work is an essential resource for sociologists, community leaders, human resource managers, activists, students and professors of higher education, researchers, and academicians.




And the Mirror Cracked


Book Description

And The Mirror Cracked explores the politics and pleasures of contemporary feminist cinema. Tracing the highly productive ways in which feminist directors create alternative film forms, Anneke Smelik highlights cinematic issues which are central to feminist films: authorship, point of view, metaphor, montage and the excessive image. In a continuous mirror game between theory and cinema, this study explains how these cinematic techniques are used to represent female subjectivity positively and affirmatively. Among the films considered are A Question of Silence , Bagdad Cafe , Sweetie and The Virgin Machine .




Studying Feminist Film Theory


Book Description

This book is aimed at helping media and film studies teachers introduce the basics of feminist film theory. No prior knowledge of feminist theory is required, the intended readers being university undergraduate teachers and students of film and media studies. Areas of emphasis include spectatorship, narrative, and ideology. Many illustrative case studies from popular cinema are used to offer students an opportunity to consider the connotations of visual and aural elements of film, narrative conflicts and oppositions, the implications of spectator “positioning” and viewer identification, and an ideological critical approach to film. Explanations of key terminology are included, along with classroom exercises and practice questions. Each chapter begins with key definitions and explanations of the concepts to be studied, including some historical background where relevant. Case studies include film noir, Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days and the work of directors Spike Lee, Claire Denis, and Paul Verhoeven. Studying Feminist Film Theory is a revised and expanded version of Feminist Film Studies: A Teacher’s Guide, published by Auteur in 2007.




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