Femmes FatalesIn this work of feminist film criticism, Mary Ann Doane examines questions of sexual difference and knowledge in cinematic, theoretical, and psychoanalytic discourses. "Femmes Fatales" examines Freud, the female spectator, the meaning of the close-up, and the nature of stardom. Doane's analyses of such figures as Pabst's Lulu and Rita Hayworth's Gilda trace the thematics and mechanics of maskes, masquerade, and veiling, with specific attention to the form and technology of the cinema. Working through and against the intellectual frameworks of post-structuralist and psychoanalytic theory, Doane interrogates cinematic and theoretical claims to truth about women which rely on judgements about vision and its stability or instability. Reflecting the shift in conceptual priorities within feminist film theory over the last decade, "Femmes Fatales" addresses debates over female spectatorhsip, essentialism and anti-essentialism, the tensions between psychoanalysis and history, and the relations between racial and sexual difference. Doane's nuanced and original readings of the "femme fatale" in cinema illustrate confrontations between feminism, film theory and psychoanalysis. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers in women's studies, communications studies and film theory. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alwa analysis apparatus apparatus theory articulation associated attempt Ballen Baubo becomes black woman camera castration character cinema claims close-up concept constituted construction critical crucial cultural dark continent desire diegesis discourse effect Elsaesser essay Fanon fantasy fascination female body female sexuality femininity feminism feminist film theory feminist theory femme fatale fetishism figure film noir frame Freud function Gaby Gaby's gaze Gilda hence historical Irigaray Jacques Lacan Johnny knowledge Lacan lack language Laplanche Laura Mulvey linked Louise Brooks Luce Irigaray Lulu Lulu's male masculine masquerade melodrama Montrelay narrative Nietzsche notion object Ophuls Pabst Pandora's Box phallus photograph position problematic prostitute psychical psychoanalysis question race racial identity relation representation represented Sarah Jane scenario scene Schön screen sense sexual difference shot Sigmund Freud signifier Signora space spatial specific spectator striptease structure sublimation symbolic temporal tion trans trompe l'oeil trope truth veil visible vision visual white woman women