Gender and Genre in 1990s Hollywood

Challenging Definitions of Sex, Women, and Femininity

Add to my list

by Patricia Di Risio

Type: Studies
Subject: Sociology
Keywords: gender, 1990s, United States
Publishing date: 2024 (December 26, 2024)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Collection: Library of Gender and Popular Culture
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 272 pages
5 ¾ x 8 ¾ inches (14.5 x 22 cm)

ISBN

978-1-350-29283-3

User Ratings

(0 vote)

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Report incorrect or incomplete information

Book Presentation:
The 1990s was a decade of significant turmoil in Hollywood cinema, which resulted in a watershed moment in the interplay of gender and genre. Patricia Di Risio argues that cinematic representations of unconventional women had an important effect on traditionally male oriented genres, such as the crime thriller, road movie, western, film noir, war film, sci-fi, and horror.

Di Risio analyses seven key films from the decade, including Blue Steel (1990), Thelma & Louise (1991), The Quick and the Dead (1995), Bound (1996), Jackie Brown (1997), G.I. Jane (1997) and Alien: Resurrection (1997), paying particular attention to their use of irony, allusion, and pastiche. She highlights how their female protagonists, a majority of whom are decidedly queer or gender questioning personas, produce an intense crossover in genre conventions, largely driven by their gender rebellion. She examines how a deconstruction of gender simultaneously allows genre hybridity and intertextuality, taking these films into unexpected new directions. In doing so, she delineates a clear line between the unconventional nature of the representation of the female protagonists and innovative changes to genre filmmaking practices.

About the Author:
Patricia Di Risio is Lecturer of Film, Media and Journalism at Monash College, Monash University Pathways, Australia.Claire Nally is Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature in the Department of English Literature, Linguistics and Creative Writing at Northumbria University, UK. She is the author of Steampunk: Gender, Subculture and the Neo-Victorian (Bloomsbury, 2019), co-editor or Bloomsbury Library of Gender and Popular Culture and Deputy Editor (including reviews) of the open access journal C21 Literature.Angela Smith is Professor of Language and Culture at the University of Sunderland, UK. She has written numerous articles and book chapters on media discourses, gender, the portrayal of immigrants and the representation of politicians.

Press Reviews:
"DiRisio provides a thoughtful examination of how media feminisms and shifting understandings of gender essentialism shaped genre films in the 1990s. Through an analysis of key Hollywood films, this book encourages readers to grapple with the legacy of iconic female protagonist like Thelma and Louise, Jackie Brown and Ellen Ripley for their respective genres." ―Jessica Ford, Lecturer in Media, University of Adelaide, Australia

"In revisiting diverse Hollywood genre films of the 1990s, Di Risio astutely and engagingly examines the complexity of women on screen – those that eschew traditional femininity and instead are unconventional, provocative and subversive. A must read for anyone interested in film genre and women who break the rules." ―Sian Mitchell, Lecturer Film, Television and Animation, Deakin University & Festival Director, Melbourne Women in Film Festival, Australia

"In this innovative analysis of feminism in Hollywood films of the 1990s, Di Risio re-positions the female protagonist through the lens of contemporary gender politics questioning, sometimes controversially, the representation by celebrated filmmakers of the decade. A must-have reader for feminist film studies." ―Pieter Aquilia, Associate Professor, Film and Television, Swinburne University, Australia

See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic

> On a related topic: