Working Girls : Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema

ISBN-13: 9780415140041 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 256 str.

Yvonne Tasker

Opis

This text investigates the thematic concerns of contemporary Hollywood cinema, and its ambivalent articulation of women as both active, and defined by sexual performance, asking whether new Hollywood cinema has responded to feminism and contemporary sexual identities. Popular cinema has often assumed an equation between working women and sexuality or sexual performance, an association encapsulated in the phrase working girls. While feminist criticism has embraced the transgressive power of modern femmes fatale such as Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction, the recurrent, class-bound figure of the prostitute has received less attention. Through a series of case-studies, the author of this text covers a wide range of contemporary genres to provide a thorough analysis of the representation and role of women in contemporary popular cinema as actors, viewers and directors, and tackles questions raised by female authorship in film.

Recenzje

'Working Girls presents useful analyses of the figure of the working woman in cinema that are thought-provoking and astute assessments of the cultural content of popular film. Much of this book is riveting, both in content and presentation.' - Brenda A. Risch, Scope: online journal of film studies

Spis treści

CONTENTS: Introduction: Bad Girls and Working Girls in the `New Hollywood` PART ONE: Chapter One: Crossdressing, Aspiration and Transformation Chapter Two: Cowgirl Tales Chapter Three: Action Women: Muscles, Mothers and Others Chapter Four: Investigating Women: Work, Criminality and Sexuality Chapter Five: New Hollywood, New Film Noir and the Female Fatale Chapter Six: Female Friendship: Melodrama, Romance, Feminism PART TWO: PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTION Chapter Seven: Comedy and Authority Chapter Eight: Music, Video, Cinema: Singers and Movie Stars Chapter Nine: Performers and Producers Notes and References Filmography Bibliography

O autorze

Yvonne Tasker