In 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.

About the Author
Mary Ann Doane (Author)

Reviews

"Doane's insights into the ways in which women's bodies become a cinematic battleground are startling and illuminating. Likewise, her lengthy essays on psychoanalysis and racial difference and on the relationship between Freudian concept of sublimation and aesthetics (both written for this volume) are lucid and provocative, challenging the assumption that both race and aesthetics lie outside the purview of psychoanalysis." -- Publishers Weekly

Book Information
ISBN 9781138144071
Author Mary Ann Doane
Format Hardback
Page Count 324
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g