Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and MelodramaFrom novels of the nineteenth century to films of the 1990s, American culture, abounds with images of white, middle-class mothers. In Motherhood and Representation, E. Ann Kaplan considers how the mother appears in three related spheres: the historical, in which she charts changing representations of the mother from 1830 to the postmodernist present; the psychoanalytic, which discusses theories of the mother from Freud to Lacan and the French Feminists; and the mother as she is figured in cultural representations: in literary and film texts such as East Lynne, Marnie and the The Handmaid's Tale, as well as in journalism and popular manuals on motherhood. Kaplan's analysis identifies two dominant paradigms of the mother as `Angel' and `Witch', and charts the contesting and often contradictory discourses of the mother in present-day America. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 37
Page i
... middle-class mothers. In Motherhood and Representation, E. Ann Kaplan considers how the mother appears in three related spheres: the historical, in which she charts changing representations of the mother from 1830 to the postmodernist ...
... middle-class mothers. In Motherhood and Representation, E. Ann Kaplan considers how the mother appears in three related spheres: the historical, in which she charts changing representations of the mother from 1830 to the postmodernist ...
Page xii
... Middle-class parents now must make many decisions about whether or not to buy the latest technical toys for their children, and xii PREFACE.
... Middle-class parents now must make many decisions about whether or not to buy the latest technical toys for their children, and xii PREFACE.
Page xiii
... middle-class women living in North America. It is written at a moment of dramatic transition in concepts of the mother produced through changing economic, social and political relations and discourses, through new consciousness about ...
... middle-class women living in North America. It is written at a moment of dramatic transition in concepts of the mother produced through changing economic, social and political relations and discourses, through new consciousness about ...
Page 8
... worked to position white, middle-class women as subjects in very specific ways. The concept of a “Master Discourse” derives ultimately from Nietzsche, who, in his Genealogy of Morals, comments on the 8 MOTHERHOOD AND REPRESENTATION.
... worked to position white, middle-class women as subjects in very specific ways. The concept of a “Master Discourse” derives ultimately from Nietzsche, who, in his Genealogy of Morals, comments on the 8 MOTHERHOOD AND REPRESENTATION.
Page 9
... middle-class culture, as this culture consolidated itself in the early nineteenth century following Rousseau's lead. Understanding this prevailing or “dominant” discourse is crucial even for groups that the dominant marginalizes (e.g. ...
... middle-class culture, as this culture consolidated itself in the early nineteenth century following Rousseau's lead. Understanding this prevailing or “dominant” discourse is crucial even for groups that the dominant marginalizes (e.g. ...
Contents
Part II Motherhood and fictional representation | 57 |
Notes | 220 |
Bibliography | 227 |
Names index | 239 |
Subject index | 245 |
Other editions - View all
Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama E. Ann Kaplan Limited preview - 2013 |
Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama E. Ann Kaplan No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
American argue articulated baby Barbara briefly Carlyle Carlyle’s century Chapter child Chodorow Christopher Strong codes complicit concept confine conflict constructed culture Cynthia daughter defined desire developed difficult discussed dominant East Lynne erotic explore fantasies father female feminine feminism feminist fiction fictional figure film film versions film’s final finally find first focus foetus Freud Freudian gaze gender genre Handmaid’s Tale Harriet heroine historical Hollywood ideal identification ideology images Imaginary Irigaray Isabel Kristeva Lacanian Levison linked Lois Weber male Marnie maternal melodrama maternal sacrifice middle-class mother mother-figure mother—child mother—daughter motherhood discourses narrative nineteenth-century North America notes novel nuclear family Oankali Oedipal paradigm patriarchal Peola phallic phallus popular position postmodern pre-Oedipal produced psychic psychoanalytic theory reflects relation relationship representations represents reproductive technologies resisting role Rousseau sexual significant significantly social specific spectator sphere Stella Dallas Symbolic terrain unconscious upper-class Weber woman woman’s women