Feminist Auteurs: Reading Women's Films » (New Edition)

Geetha Ramanathan is professor of Comparative Literature and Women's Studies at West Chester University. She is the author of Sexual Politics and the Male Playwright: The Portrayal of Women in Ten Contemporary Plays (1995) and Issues of Representation in Feminist Film (forthcoming).

Feminist Auteurs examines a rich and diverse body of work that has received insufficient attention both in film studies and in feminist theory on film. Looking at individual films within the context of feminist film as a genre, Ramanathan examines film from diverse cultural traditions, while paying close attention to what might be regarded as feminist in different cultural contexts. The films chosen expand our ideas of feminism covering as they do film from Africa, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the US. Full-length interpretations of twenty-four films, both older and contemporary, including Vagabond, India Song, Bhaji on the Beach, Chocolat, and Daughters of the Dust lay out a complete and powerful framework for reading women's film.

Acknowledgements     vii
Introduction     1
Aesthetics and the Female Subject     10
Working Girls
Parama
A Very Curious Girl
Vagabond
Black/White Looking Power     45
Illusions
The Watermelon Woman
Chocolat
India Song
Bhaji on the Beach
Genre Covers     77
Daughters of the Dust
La nouba des femmes du Mont-Chenoua
Sambizanga
Flame
Aural Subjectivities     109
Danzon
Angel of Fire
The Silences of the Palace
Sati
Desire and Female Subjectivity     141
The Smiling Madame Beudet
Hour of the Star
Losing Ground
Feminist Narrative Aesthetics     168
Malou
Antonia's Line
Phaniyamma
Madchen in Uniform
Afterword     204
Notes     206
Index     236