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Detecting women : gender and the Hollywood detective film / Philippa Gates.

Van Pelt Library PN1995.9.D4 G385 2011
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Format:
Author/Creator:
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Physical Description:
x, 400 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Place of Publication:
Albany : State University of New York Press, [2011]
Summary:
Looking at about 300 films, Gates (film studies, Wilfrid Laurier U., Ontario) explores the female detective character from her pre-cinematic origins in 19th-cetury detective fiction through the history of Hollywood cinema, focusing on the periods 1929-1950 and 1970 to today. The female detective is examined through the lens of theories of gender, genre, and stardom, and through engagement with critical concepts of performativity, masquerade, and feminism. Gates argues that the most progressive and feminist models of the female detective exist in mainstream film's more peripheral products, such as 1930s B moves and 1970s blaxploitation films. The book is illustrated with 20 b&w film stills and includes appendices listing facts on the films discussed. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Contents:
  • The crime lab : gender and the detective genre. Introduction : the case
  • Detecting criticism : theorizing gender and the detective genre
  • The rise and demise of the classical female detective, 1929 to 1950. Movie modernization : the film industry and working women in the Depression
  • Detecting as a hobby : amateur and professional detectives in the 1930s
  • Sob sisters don't cry : the girl reporter as detective in the 1930s
  • In name only : the transformation of the female detective in the 1940s
  • The maritorious melodrama : the female detective in 1940s film noir
  • From crime-fighter to crime scene investigator, 1970 to today. Femme might makes right : the 1970s blaxploitation vigilante crime-fighter
  • Detecting the bounds of the law : the female lawyer thriller of the 1980s
  • Detecting identity : from investigative thrillers to crime scene investigators.
Notes:
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
  • Includes filmography.
ISBN:
  • 9781438434056
  • 1438434057
  • 9781438434049
  • 1438434049
OCLC:
642509285

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