Representations of Femininity in American Genre Cinema The Woman's Film, Film Noir, and Modern Horror

by Greven, David

• ISBN13: 9780230112513
• ISBN10: 023011251X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The theme of female transformation informs the Hollywood representation of femininity from the studio era to the present. Whether it occurs physically, emotionally, or on some other level, transformation allows female protagonists to negotiate their own complex desires and to resist the compulsory marriage plot. A sweeping study of Hollywood fromNow, Voyager, The Heiress, andFlamingo RoadtoCarrie, theAlienfilms,The Brave One, and the slasher horror genre, this book boldly unsettles commonplace understandings of genre film, female sexuality, and Freudian theory as it makes a strong new case for the queer relevance of female representation.

Author Biography

David Greven is an Associate Professor of English at Connecticut College. His books include Manhood in Hollywood from Bush to Bush (2009), Gender and Sexuality in Star Trek (2009), and Men Beyond Desire: Manhood, Sex, and Violation in American Literature (Palgrave, 2005). His work on film has appeared in journals such as Cinema Journal, Genders, Postmodern Culture.

Table of Contents

Femininity and Film Genres * Freud and the Death-Mother * Transformations of the Woman’s Film * Modern Horror as the Concealed Woman’s Film * Medusa in the Mirror: Brian De Palma’s Carrie * Demeter and Persephone in Space: Transformation, Femininity, and Myth in the Alien Films * The Finalizing Woman: Horror, Femininity, and Queer Monsters * The Brave One