Neo-Feminist Cinema

Description

Neo-Feminist Cinema examines how Hollywood has responded to women’s changing social roles through an analysis of a flourishing sub-genre "the Girly Film," associated with the contemporary "Chick Flick." Films designed for a female audience such as Pretty Woman, Legally Blonde, and Confessions of a Shopaholic exploit the conventions of the romance, while producing hybrids that reflect significant shifts in the cultural position of women.

Radner pays particular attention to how the contemporary woman’s film portrays what some have called postfeminism and what the author redefines as neo-feminism, represented by figures such as Helen Gurley Brown—women for whom work was a necessity, rather than a right or even a privilege. Through an analysis of the girly film, this project teases out the parameters of the neo-feminist paradigm and its implications for an understanding of the contemporary woman’s film. Popular films explored include He’s Just Not That Into You, The Devil Wears Prada, Bride Wars, Sex and the City, and many more.

Contents

Introduction: Reassessing Feminism and Popular Culture. 1. Neo-feminism and the Rise of the Single Girl 2. Pretty Woman and the Girly Film: Defining the Format 3. Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion: Female Friendship in the Girly Film 4. Legally Blonde: "A Pink Girl in a Brown World" 5.Jennifer Lopez: Neo-Feminism and the Crossover Star 6. Maid in Manhattan: A New Fairy Tale 7. Hit Movies for "Femmes" 8. The Devil Wears Prada: The Fashion Film 9. Sex and the City: The Movie: The Female Event Film 10. Something’s Gotta Give: Nancy Meyers, Neo-Feminist Auteur. Conclusion: Post-feminism and Neo-feminism

Author Bio

Hilary Radner is Professor and Foundation Chair of Film and Media Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She is author of Shopping Around: Feminine Culture and the Pursuit of Pleasure. She is co-editor of several books including Jane Campion: Cinema, Nation, Identity; Swinging Single: Representing Sexuality, the 1960s; Constructing the New Consumer Society; and Film Theory Goes to the Movies, also published by Routledge.

Related Subjects

1. Gender & Cinema
2. Feminism
3. Media & Film Studies
4. Hollywood
5. Contemporary Cinema
6. Cinema Studies & Popular Cinema
7. Media Studies
8. Gender
9. Popular Culture