Synopses & Reviews
In the context of nineteenth-century Victorinoir and close readings of original-cycle film noir, Julie Grossman argues that the presence of the "femme fatale" figure, as she is understood in film criticism and popular culture, is drastically over-emphasized and has helped to sustain cultural obsessions with 'bad' women.
Review
"This is a compelling, informed, well-researched, and deeply original book."
- G. A. Foster, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Choice
Synopsis
The PostDictatorship Generation in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay explores how young adults in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay make sense of the 1970s socialist projects and the ensuing years of repression in their activism, film, and literature. How do they deal with the stories of their parents, be their parents persecuted activists, shocked bystanders, or perpetrators? How do they combine a critical appraisal of the dramatically interrupted projects of social change with their strong condemnation of state terror in a context marked by polarization, impunity, and the need for a collective project? They engage in a rich intergenerational dialogue in order to 'own' the past and become actors of the present.
About the Author
JULIE GROSSMAN is a professor of English at Le Moyne College, New York, USA. She is co-editor of A Due Voci: The Photography of Rita Hammond and has published articles on film noir, Francis Ford Coppola, Todd Haynes, Oscar Wilde and Karen Finley, and Thomas Hardy and Henry James.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Introduction: 'No One Mourns the Wicked'
PART I: FILM NOIR'S 'FEMME FATALES': MOVING BEYOND GENDER FANTASIES
'Well, aren't we Ambitious': Desire, Domesticity, and the 'Femme Fatale'
Psychological Disorders and 'Wiretapping the Unconscious': Film Noir Listens to Women
PART II: LOOKING BACK - VICTORINOIR: MODERN WOMEN AND THE FATAL(E) PROGENY OF VICTORIAN REPRESENTATIONS
Looking Forward - Deconstructing the 'Femme Fatale'
Notes
Bibliography
Index