Women in Film Noir

by E. Ann Kaplan (Editor)

Overview

The first edition of 'Women in Film Noir' (1978) assembled a group of scholars and critics committed to understanding the cinema in terms of gender, sexuality, politics, psychoanalysis and semiotics. This edition is expanded to include further essays which reflect the renewed interest in Film Noir. Exploring 'neo-noir', postmodernism and other contemporary trends, new essays offer readings of, among others, 'Bound' and 'Basic Instinct', broadening the scope of the book to include questions of race and homosexuality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781839021220
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	07/25/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	18 MB
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About the Author

E. Ann Kaplan is Professor of English at the Stony Brook University, New York, USA, where she also directs the Humanities Institute.

Table of Contents

Klute 1 a contemporary Film Noir and feminist criticism, Christine Gledhill; woman's place the absent family of Film Noir, Sylvia Harvey; women in Film Noir, Janey Place; duplicity in 'Mildred Pierce', Pam Cook; the place of women in Fritz Lang's 'The Blue Gardenia', E. Ann Kaplan; 'Double Indemnity', Claire Johnston; 'Klute'.- 2 feminism and 'Klute', Christine Gledhill; resistance through charisma Rita Hayworth and 'Gilda', Richard Dyer; postscript queers and women in Film Noir, Richard Dyer; female spectator, lesbian spectator 'The Haunting', Patricia White; femme fatale or lesbian femme 'Bound' in sexual difference, Chris Straayer; the postmodern always rings twice constructing the femme fatale in 1990's cinema, Kate Stables; the 'dark continent' of Film Noir race, displacement and metaphor in 'Cat People' and 'The Lady from Shanghai', E. Ann Kaplan; 'Gilda' didn't do any of those things you've been losing sleep over the central women in 1940s Film Noir, Angela Martin.

Editorial Reviews

Film noir flourished in the years during and immediately following World War II, but the genre has never disappeared, as shown by the recent popularity of films like Basic Instinct, Bound, and LA Confidential. These academic essays, compiled by Kaplan (English, SUNY), ponder the "absent family" in noir, the role of woman as destroyer and redeemer, the common theme of female duplicity, and the role of women in the narrative structure. Other films considered here are Blue Gardenia, Gilda, Double Indemnity, modern noir films like Klute, and the horror classic The Haunting, which one critic sees as a representation of the "disruptive force of lesbian desire." Though few studies of women in this popular genre exist, the book's academic format and language will discourage most general readers. Recommended for academic libraries.--Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA

Library Journal

"A major text of feminist criticism."--"Film Quarterly
Nielsen

From the Publisher