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OverviewIt's widely assumed that Britain in the 1950s experienced a return to traditional gender roles. Popular cinema has typically been seen to represent this era through the dominant image of the 'happy housewife'. Femininity in the Frame is a sharply observant account of how British cinema engaged with femininity and women's roles during this important period. Written in a lively and accessible manner, it challenges received understandings, arguing that the period was marked by social unease and anxiety about gender roles and femininity, with much British cinema producing ambiguous messages about feminine identities and the role of women. Through analysing marginalized figures, such as prostitutes, criminals and femmes fatales, and addressing central themes, notably sexuality, marriage and female friendship, Melanie Bell examines how British popular cinema imagined and constructed femininity in this era of rapid social and cultural change. She draws together sources ranging from official reports to film reviews, with case studies of films across genres, including The Perfect Woman , Young Wives' Tale , The Weak and the Wicked and A Town Like Alice , to show how new ideas and understandings of femininity were seeping into the cultural imagery at this time. She demonstrates how such films expressed proto-feminist ideas and how they ultimately explored new forms of femininity in a manner that has not until now been recognised. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Melanie BellPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Imprint: I.B. Tauris Dimensions: Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.40cm Weight: 0.386kg ISBN: 9781848851597ISBN 10: 1848851596 Pages: 240 Publication Date: 30 November 2009 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Out of Print Availability: In Print Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock. Table of ContentsReviewsAuthor InformationMelanie Bell is Lecturer in Film at Newcastle University. She has published widely in the areas of British film culture, gender and genre, and British women's writing on film. She has contributed to the 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' and co-edited 'British Women's Cinema' (2009). Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |