Space oddities : women and outer space in film, 1960-2000 / by Marie Lathers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lathers, Marie, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Outer space in motion pictures.

Science fiction films--History and criticism.

Science fiction films.

Women in motion pictures.

Women scientists in motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 240 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Continuum, 2010.

Summary:

Space Oddities examines the representation of women in outer space films from 1960 to 2000, with an emphasis on films in which women are either denied or given the role of astronaut. Marie Lathers traces an evolution in this representation from women as aliens and/or "assistant" astronauts, to women as astronaut wives, to women as astronauts themselves. Many popular films from the era are considered, as are earlier films (from Aelita Queen of Mars to Devil Girl From Mars) and historical records, literary fiction, and television shows (especially I Dream of Jeannie). Early 1960s attempts by women pilots to enter the Space Race are considered as is the media drama surrounding the death of Christa McAuliffe. In addition to its insightful film scholarship, this is an important addition to current reassessments of the Space Race. By applying insights from contemporary gender, race, and species theories to popular imaginings of women in space, the status of the Space Race as a cultural construct that reproduces and/or warps terrestrial gender structures is revealed.

Contents:

Introduction

Space for women: a problem deferred. It's about time : a brief history of women in space

Arrows of time

No official requirement

Astronauts on display

Bottled up : inner and outer space in I dream of Jeannie. Screen memories

Alienation and the Arab body

There is another kind of space here

Staying home : astronaut wives and domestic engineering. Angels in the house

The engineered century

Mothers in space

Chimpanzees in space and Gorillas in the mist. We are the monkey

The colonialist imperative

The old lady who lives in the forest without a man

The astronaut's new clothes : naked in space in Nude on the moon, Barbarella, and Alien. Dressing for success

Cosmic striptease

In space no one can see you undress

Making contact. First contact

Contact in the 1990s

Kissing cousins

Conclusion : black holes and the body of the astrophysicist.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613004413

9781628928976

1628928972

9781283004411

1283004410

9781441180933

1441180931

OCLC:

701719370