Synopses & Reviews
and#160;Bathing beauty Esther Williams, bombshell Jane Russell, exotic Carmen Miranda, chanteuse Lena Horne, and talk-show fixture Zsa Zsa Gabor are rarely hailed as great actors or as naturalistic performers. Those terms of praise are given to male stars like Marlon Brando and James Dean, whose gritty dramas are seen as a departure from the glossy spectacles in which these stars appeared.
Like a Natural Woman challenges those assumptions, revealing the skill and training that went into the work of these five actresses, who employed naturalistic performance techniques, both onscreen and off.
Bringing a fresh perspective to film history through the lens of performance studies, Kirsten Pullen explores the ways in which these actresses, who always appeared to be andldquo;playing themselves,andrdquo; responded to the naturalist notion that actors should create authentic characters by drawing from their own lives. At the same time, she examines how Hollywood presented these female stars as sex objects, focusing on their spectacular bodies at the expense of believable characterization or narratives.
Pullen not only helps us appreciate what talented actresses these five women actually were, but also reveals how they sought to express themselves and maintain agency, even while meeting the demands of their directors, studios, families, and fans to perform certain feminine roles. Drawing from a rich collection of classic films, publicity materials, and studio archives, Like a Natural Woman lets us take a new look at both Hollywood acting techniques and the performance of femininity itself.
Review
andquot;This well-researched and detailed study of female performance in classical Hollywood cinema and its persistence and ubiquity in modern celebrity culture is (almost!) as entertaining as the films and stars discussed.andquot;
Review
andquot;Kirsten Pullenandrsquo;s engaging and illuminating work breaks new ground in performance studies, film and television studies, and womenandrsquo;s studies. A gem not to be missed!andquot;
Review
andquot;This is an excellent book, a solid career overview of the work of a group of Hollywood stars of the 1940s and 1950s whom, the author convincingly argues, played themselves onscreen with the sort of naturalism that one associates with the assured performances of male and#39;methodand#39; actors of the era. Pullen has a keen knowledge of Hollywood history. Fascinating reading for the layperson or the academic; perfect for a resource for a course in American cinema. Highly recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;Laura Horakand#39;s Girls Will Be Boys is without peer as a historical contribution to queer scholarship on early film. It is a revisionist work that draws upon a wealth of historical research to completely overturn previous accounts.andquot;
Synopsis
Gender roles have been tested, challenged, and redefined everywhere during the past thirty years, but perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in film. Screening Genders is a lively and engaging introduction to the evolving representations of masculinity, femininity, and places once thought to be "in between.
Synopsis
Gender roles have been tested, challenged, and redefined everywhere during the past thirty years, but perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in film. Screening Genders is a lively and engaging introduction to the evolving representations of masculinity, femininity, and places once thought to be andquot;in between.andquot;
The book begins with a general introduction that traces the movement of gender theory from the margins of film studies to its center. The ten essays that follow address a range of topics, including screen stars; depictions of gay, straight, queer, and transgender subjects; and the relationship between gender and genre. Widely respected scholars, including Robert T. Eberwein, Lucy Fischer, Chris Holmlund, E. Ann Kaplan, Kathleen Rowe Karlyn, David Lugowski, Patricia Mellencamp, Jerry Mosher, Jacqueline Reich, and Chris Straayer, focus on the radical ideological advances of contemporary cinema, as well as on those groundbreaking films that have shaped our ideas about masculinity and femininity, not only in movies but in American culture at large.
The first comprehensive overview of the history of gender theory in film, this book is an ideal text for courses and will serve as a foundation for further discussion among students and scholars alike.
Synopsis
and#160;Classic Hollywood starlets like Esther Williams, Carmen Miranda, Lena Horne, Jane Russell, and Zsa Zsa Gabor are rarely hailed as naturalistic performers or as serious actresses.
Like a Natural Woman challenges these assumptions, revealing the work and acting training that went into the onscreen and off-screen performances of celebrities who always appeared to be andldquo;playing themselves.andrdquo; Drawing from a wealth of films and publicity materials, Kirsten Pullen gives us a fresh take on both Hollywood acting techniques and the performance of femininity itself.and#160;
Synopsis
Laura Horak spent a decade scouring film archives worldwide, and what she discovered could revolutionize our understanding of gender roles in the early twentieth century. Girls Will Be Boys examines over 400 examples of women dressed as men in American films made between 1908 and 1934, revealing that Cross-Dressed women were once viewed as wholesome and used to lend respectability to the fledgling film industry.and#160;
Synopsis
Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Hepburn all made lasting impressions with the cinematic cross-dressing they performed onscreen. What few modern viewers realize, however, is that these seemingly daring performances of the 1930s actually came at the tail end of a long wave of gender-bending films that included more than 400 movies featuring women dressed as men.
and#160;
Laura Horak spent a decade scouring film archives worldwide, looking at American films made between 1908 and 1934, and what she discovered could revolutionize our understanding of gender roles in the early twentieth century. Questioning the assumption that cross-dressing women were automatically viewed as transgressive, she finds that these figures were popularly regarded as wholesome and regularly appeared onscreen in the 1910s, thus lending greater respectability to the fledgling film industry. Horak also explores how and why this perception of cross-dressed women began to change in the 1920s and early 1930s, examining how cinema played a pivotal part in the representation of lesbian identity.
and#160;
Girls Will Be Boys excavates a rich history of gender-bending film roles, enabling readers to appreciate the wide array of masculinities that these actresses performedandmdash;from sentimental boyhood to rugged virility to gentlemanly refinement. Taking us on a guided tour through a treasure-trove of vintage images, Girls Will Be Boys helps us view the histories of gender, sexuality, and film through fresh eyes. and#160;and#160;
About the Author
and#160;KIRSTEN PULLEN is an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the department of performance studies at Texas AandM University. Her publications include the book
Actresses and Whores: On Stage and In Society.