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This collection of film reviews and essays focuses on the role of women in films during the 1970s and 1980s. The author, a widely published film critic, examines the shifting portrayals of women from the almost anti-progressive treatment of women in the early 1970s through the integration of more progressive professional women in the films of the late 1980s. She shows that most of the important movies of the period were about women and that these films seemed to reflect the momentous changes that women were going through in the society at large. McCreadie's in-depth analysis of women in cinema is augmented with personal interviews with leading female actresses of the period including Jane Fonda, Kathleen Turner, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Sally Field, Anjelica Huston, and others. Taking a chronological approach to her subject, McCreadie shows that the late 1970s saw some radical breakthroughs in roles for women in such movies as Annie Hall and Coming Home--perhaps reflecting the outcries earlier in the decade that women were not being treated progressively in current cinema. These more progressive and sometimes shattering images of women were in some cases even more advanced than the society the films were attempting to characterize. Throughout the early 1980s there was a sharp retreat from this position as movies like Ghostbusters and The River showed a definite backlash against feminism and gains made by women. Finally, in the late 1980s, the focus has turned toward more progressive and accomplished women in cinema although, even here, McCreadie argues, there is sometimes a conservative or reactionary hue to even the most advanced role models offered by film. Students of film, women's studies, and popular culture will find McCreadie's analysis fascinating and illuminating reading.
As in so many other areas of American society, the political legacy of Ronald Reagan had an imposing presence in many contemporary American films, particularly between 1980 and 2000. Six films, which collectively represent the spectrum of Reaganism’s most popular tropes, demonstrate quite compellingly that in celebrating nostalgically the blissful pleasantries of family stability and social order so essential to Reagan’s political philosophy, an unsettling and unsatisfying mythology has been created about a period in which many Americans were acutely aware that something was missing, even if they could not pinpoint it at the time. This leads the critical viewer to largely unacknowledged subtexts in all six films that begin to reveal the contradictions, incoherencies, and paradoxes rooted in popular Reaganesque portrayals. Utilising a detailed qualitative case study methodology, this book incorporates theoretical foundations that expand upon Fairclough’s path-breaking research on media discourse and Todorov’s broadly articulated framework of fantasy in order to explore: 1) Which elements of Fairclough’s framework for critical discourse analysis can be applied to explore the discursive structures within these American fantasy films? 2) How far do the films follow Reaganist concepts of a “new” American society? 3) How far do notions of the “fantastic” and postmodern concepts break with common patterns of Reaganism reflected in these films? While many critics rightly cite the numerous elements in these films that appear to reinforce fundamental message points underlying Reaganism, this study demonstrates how the films’ characters and plot lines also serve to reveal the inherent and irreconcilable incoherence of the sociopolitical and sociocultural tenets of Reaganism.
The notion of conflict of interest is more relevant today than ever. Ethical sensitivities about the relationship between professionals and those they serve is a source of constant debate. This book sets a new standard for work on this perennial topic, collecting a set of practical essays by top applied ethicists on a wide variety of professions and occupations. Some conflicts of interest arise because a profession takes on many roles while serving one goal; others take on one role but serve multiple goals. Some conflicts are internal to the profession; others (such as family or business connections) are external. The essays in this volume address such diverse conflicts in a comprehensive way, in an attempt to make useful comparisons across professions. Containing fifteen original chapters by noted scholars of applied ethics, this volume systematically explores professions including law, medicine, journalism, engineering, financial services, anthropology, film, physical therapy, and literary criticism. An introductory chapter surveys and contextualizes work on the topic, while the concluding chapter offers us a new way to compare conflicts of interest across professions and occupations. Conflict of Interest in the Professions will be of great practical interest to scholars of applied ethics and law, as well as to professionals in the fields discussed
Ellen Ripley of the Alien Quadrilogy has become an iconic female figure in the male dominated genre of science fiction/action/horror since her first appearance in 1979. This collection offers readers varied interpretations of Ripley that are grounded in the social context and theoretical perspectives that were dominant prior to and during the time the films were released. Specifically, the rise of Second Wave Feminism—and the backlash against it—provides a backdrop for this collection. Is Ripley a feminist hero? A patriarchal woman and mother? Does she embody de Beavoir’s “myth of the feminine”? Does she exhibit sexual agency? Does she offer us a glimpse of individual autonomy that moves away from dichotomous gender roles? These are the primary questions explored in this collection. While the focus is clearly on Ripley, the arguments go beyond the confines of the films by examining the relationship between the individual and society in which both are product and producer of the other, and illustrate that social artifacts such as film can provide insights into the lived experiences of our world. The contributors come from a variety of backgrounds including Literature, Cinema Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, Philosophy, Sociology, Theatre History, and reside in Canada and the United States. They represent a range from junior to senior scholars. While science fiction is clearly an interest of all these individuals, it is not the primary area of research for most of them. By bringing voices from multiple disciplines into the discussion about Ripley, this collection offers readers perspectives that deviate from and yet complement the current trend in film criticism and, thus, contributes to opening up discussions about such characters and the genre to a wider audience.
This guide offers listings of some 300 Francophone women from around the world & their work. Wherever possible, entries include dates, brief biographies, descriptions & brief critical analyses.
At a time where, after decades of progress in gender and sexual rights, people in many parts of the world are facing new forms of resistance and opposition to gender equality, this timely publication confirms the continuing importance and relevance of gender and women's studies. The fifth edition of this best-selling textbook provides a comprehensive overview of key issues and debates in gender and feminist theory. With fully revised chapters written by specialists across a range of core topics including sexuality, race, bodies, family, masculinity, methodologies and migration, this clearly written but rigorous collection examines contemporary debates and provides helpful examples and questions to consider. Furthermore, it continues to reflect the shift from women's studies to gender studies, incorporating coverage of masculinity throughout, as well as discussing live debates such as around global activism, transgender rights and the environment. It continues to be an indispensable resource for students, academics and anyone interested in this lively field. New to this Edition: - A new chapter on gender and migration - Expanded discussion of transgender rights as well as masculinity studies - Brings seven new contributors to the collection; with newly authored chapters on Gender and Environment, Gender and Education, Gender and Sexuality and Gender and Race - Fully revised and updated with new material and new case examples - Greater attention to intersectional approaches and international reach
What does it mean to be bound by love? Sometimes, the bonds of love supply bliss, and sometimes they demand sacrifice. Sometimes, experiencing love saves people, and sometimes it kills them. Being bound by love often engenders moral responsibility; in other cases, it enslaves and imprisons the soul. American mythologies—especially those presented in film and television—perpetuate love as the central narrative of one’s life; the search for a connection forged by love permeates every facet of human existence, from our desire to be accepted, or our longing to be needed, to our fury at being rejected. Sometimes love is the stuff of happiness, fulfilling in every regard. But there are also times when love makes us do things we should not do; sometimes it turns us into people we do not want to become. The commonality between love that satisfies and love that destroys is the bond between people who open themselves to the vulnerability of love. Examination of the theme of familial bonds in film and television explores how the process of forming and maintaining those bonds complicates, revises, and reproduces ideas about love. The chapters in this book explore how the nature of bonds and familial responsibility inform a popular cultural dialogue about the changing nature of the American family over the past sixty years.
Ingrid Bergman's engaging screen performance as Sister Mary Benedict in The Bells of St. Mary's made the film nun a star and her character a shining standard of comparison. She represented the religious life as the happy and rewarding choice of a modern woman who had a "complete understanding" of both erotic and spiritual desire. How did this vibrant and mature nun figure come to be viewed as girlish and naive? Why have she and her cinematic sisters in postwar popular film so often been stereotyped or selectively analyzed, so seldom been seen as women and religious? In Veiled Desires--a unique full-length, in-depth study of nuns in film--Maureen Sabine explores these questions in a groundbreaking interdisciplinary study covering more than sixty years of cinema. She looks at an impressive breadth of films in which the nun features as an ardent lead character, including The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Black Narcissus (1947), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Sea Wife (1957), The Nun's Story (1959), The Sound of Music (1965), Change of Habit (1969), In This House of Brede (1975), Agnes of God (1985), Dead Man Walking (1995), and Doubt (2008). Veiled Desires considers how the beautiful and charismatic stars who play chaste nuns, from Ingrid Bergman and Audrey Hepburn to Susan Sarandon and Meryl Streep, call attention to desires that the veil concealed and the habit was thought to stifle. In a theologically and psychoanalytically informed argument, Sabine responds to the critics who have pigeonholed the film nun as the obedient daughter and religious handmaiden of a patriarchal church, and the respectful audience who revered her as an icon of spiritual perfection. She provides a framework for a more complex and holistic picture of nuns on screen by showing how the films dramatize these women's Christian call to serve, sacrifice, and dedicate themselves to God, and their erotic desire for intimacy, agency, achievement, and fulfillment.
Essays analyze ten popular films adapted from contemporary American fiction by women, addressing the ways in which the writers' feminist messages are reinterpreted and examining the extent to which filmmakers adapt, retain, or erase the feminist content of the original fiction. Films examined in include Ordinary People, The Women of Brewster Place, and Interview with the Vampire. Contains bandw photos. Paper edition (unseen), $24.95. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR