Feminist Film Theory and Pretty Woman

Description

In Feminist Film Theory and Pretty Woman, Mari Ruti traces the development of feminist film theory from its foundational concepts such as the male gaze, female spectatorship, and the masquerade of femininity to 21st-century analyses of neoliberal capitalism, consumerism, postfeminism, and the revival of ‘girly’ femininity as a cultural ideal. By interpreting Pretty Woman as a movie that defies easy categorization as either feminist or antifeminist, the book counters the all-too-common critical dismissal of romantic comedies as mindless drivel preoccupied with trivial ‘feminine’ concerns such as love and shopping. The book's lucid presentation of the key concerns of feminist film theory, along with its balanced reading of Pretty Woman, shed light on a Hollywood genre often overlooked by film critics: the romantic comedy. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Feminist Film Theory Freud the feminist? Jacques Lacan: Lack, desire, fantasy The power of cinematic suture “Femininity” as a heteropatriarchal invention The male gaze The male gaze revisited When the object looks back Voyeurism, fetishism, and the masquerade of femininity Rise of third-wave feminism Neoliberal capitalism The promise of happiness The persistence of gender stereotyping The new girliness Power femininity? The surveillance gaze Sexual self-objectification Are we all equally objectified? Why Pretty Woman? Chapter 2 Feminist Film Theory and Pretty Woman The attack of early critics Should women know better? The haves and the have-nots (“It’s all about money”) The contradictions of money (“We both screw people for money”) The racial politics of class mobility (“You clean up real nice”) The defiant cinderella (“I can do anything I want to, baby”) Softening the gender binary (“Standard H? Like I know what that means”) Rewriting the scripts of gender (“I’m just using him for sex”) The female pygmalion (“She rescues him right back”) The masquerade of femininity (“No one can look as good as you”) From a hooker to a lady (“Either they love it or they hate it”) Conspicuous consumption (“Profane, or really offensive?”) Refusing the condo (“Cinde-fuckin’-rella”) Learning to shop (“I got money to spend in here”) Vivian as fetish (“Something’s missing”) The male gaze (“You’re stunning”) Humanizing the heroine (“Stop fidgeting and smile”) Conclusion