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 90
Page vii
... woman's film” in the silent era: Uncle Tom's Cabin; Herland; The Blot; The Crowd; Applause 8 THE “RESISTING” MATERNAL WOMAN'S FILM 1930—60. Arzner's Christopher Strong and Craig's Wife; Imitation ofLife (1934 and 1959); Stella Dallas ...
... woman's film” in the silent era: Uncle Tom's Cabin; Herland; The Blot; The Crowd; Applause 8 THE “RESISTING” MATERNAL WOMAN'S FILM 1930—60. Arzner's Christopher Strong and Craig's Wife; Imitation ofLife (1934 and 1959); Stella Dallas ...
Page xv
... Woman's Film from 1910—1940,” in C. Gledhill (ed), (1987) Home is Where the Heart is: Studies in Melodrama and the Woman's Film, London: British Film Institute; “Discourses of the Mother in Postmodern Film and Culture,” Westerly: A ...
... Woman's Film from 1910—1940,” in C. Gledhill (ed), (1987) Home is Where the Heart is: Studies in Melodrama and the Woman's Film, London: British Film Institute; “Discourses of the Mother in Postmodern Film and Culture,” Westerly: A ...
Page 4
... woman's subjective pleasures in mothering (apart from such pleasures taking place under the auspices of the Father or the state) has still not been adequately studied; nor has the possibility of a desire for the child for its own sake ...
... woman's subjective pleasures in mothering (apart from such pleasures taking place under the auspices of the Father or the state) has still not been adequately studied; nor has the possibility of a desire for the child for its own sake ...
Page 11
... woman's novel, as noted, have not been particularly interested in the theory of melodrama per se, or in locating the woman's novel within this aesthetic mode. Feminist film critics on the other hand have focused on melodrama precisely ...
... woman's novel, as noted, have not been particularly interested in the theory of melodrama per se, or in locating the woman's novel within this aesthetic mode. Feminist film critics on the other hand have focused on melodrama precisely ...
Page 12
... Woman's Film: ” (Or “Complicit” versus “Resisting” Melodramas). The theory of a “Master” mother-discourse, involving an “angel” versus a “witch” figure structures the choice of specific melodramas on one obvious level. But a theory of ...
... Woman's Film: ” (Or “Complicit” versus “Resisting” Melodramas). The theory of a “Master” mother-discourse, involving an “angel” versus a “witch” figure structures the choice of specific melodramas on one obvious level. But a theory of ...
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