A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930-1960
In this highly readable and entertaining book, Jeanine Basinger shows how the "woman's film" of the 30s, 40s, and 50s sent a potent mixed message to millions of female moviegoers. At the same time that such films exhorted women to stick to their "proper" realm of men, marriage, and motherhood, they portrayed -- usually with relish -- strong women playing out liberating fantasies of power, romance, sexuality, luxury, even wickedness.\ Never mind that the celluloid personas of Bette Davis,...
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A lively portrayal of Hollywood's contradictory message of conformity and riotous freedom in films about women's lives and loves. Publishers Weekly Full of sharp and entertaining insights, this exhaustive study analyzes dozens of ``women's films''-- The Man I Love , My Reputation , Women's Prison , etc.--which presented the contradiction of covert liberation and overt support for women's traditional roles. Basinger, chair of the Film Studies Program at Wesleyan Univeristy, mostly avoids citing interviews and fan magazines, relying instead on her own perceptions. She offers clever epigrams--the constrained choices of the woman's world are a ``Board Game of Life''--as she explores issues including men, marriage, motherhood and fashion. The film Jezebel , the author suggests, deserved a subtitle: ``How Society Forces Bette Davis to Conform by Making Her Change Her Dress.'' Basinger's gimlet eye generates several schema, from the basic rules of film behavior to the four kinds of mothers. And while observations like one that finds similarities between women in prisons and in department stores are amusing, they also hit home. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)
The Genre I. The Woman Herself2. Duality :"My God! There's Two of Her"3. Fashion and Glamour4. The Stars Who Play Her5. Ways of Seeing Her6. The Woman's World7. Men8. Marriage9. Motherhood10. The Woman in the Man's World11. Proof: Kitty and Angie and Janet12. Appendix: Women at the Box Office13. Bibliography14. Index 15.Binder, Wolfgang/American Contradictions
\ From the Publisher"Witty, spirited, [and] satisfyingly comprehensive . . . A Woman's View is bright, lively, jargon-free, densely argued, never ponderous . . . Basinger knows how to nail what she's going after." --Boston Globe\ "Ms. Basinger analyzes Hollywood's view with affectionate wit and verve . . . Her book is a timely reminder that female rebellion didn't start with Thelma and Louise."--New York Times Book Review\ "An intelligent, thought-provoking look at a genre too often dismissed as either sheer trash or simply another cultural instrument of female oppression. Basinger possesses -- and conveys -- a lively appreciation for the complexities of popular culture." --Washington Post Book World\ A book about the 'woman's film,' and written in clear, intelligible prose, is almost as alluring as the best of the films themselves . . . a book with fascinating detail that stays readable to the end."--Cineaste\ \ \ \ \ \ \ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ Full of sharp and entertaining insights, this exhaustive study analyzes dozens of ``women's films''-- The Man I Love , My Reputation , Women's Prison , etc.--which presented the contradiction of covert liberation and overt support for women's traditional roles. Basinger, chair of the Film Studies Program at Wesleyan Univeristy, mostly avoids citing interviews and fan magazines, relying instead on her own perceptions. She offers clever epigrams--the constrained choices of the woman's world are a ``Board Game of Life''--as she explores issues including men, marriage, motherhood and fashion. The film Jezebel , the author suggests, deserved a subtitle: ``How Society Forces Bette Davis to Conform by Making Her Change Her Dress.'' Basinger's gimlet eye generates several schema, from the basic rules of film behavior to the four kinds of mothers. And while observations like one that finds similarities between women in prisons and in department stores are amusing, they also hit home. Photos not seen by PW. Sept.\ \ \ Library JournalBasinger film studies, Wesleyan Univ. has written a knowledgeable and entertaining study of the woman's film genre. With examples from hundreds of films, she demonstrates that these movies offered women the contradictory message that other roles were accessible to them, while simultaneously reaffirming their roles as housewives and mothers. Basinger covers every facet of the genre, including stars, the role of fashion, fan magazines, men, marriage, motherhood, and women in a man's world. She describes the ``woman's world'' in these films as ``a series of limited spaces with the woman struggling to get free of them'' and explores four typical settings: the prison, department store, small town, and house. Her lively analyses and amusing comments make this volume interesting to the fan of old movies as well as the film student. For most serious film collections.-- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.\ \ \ \ \ From Barnes & NobleLooks at the ambivalent world of "women's films," of splendidly ridiculous plots & contradictory themes that, ironically, paved the way for more liberating roles. Discusses the films & the women who starred in them. B&W photos.\ \
