Women and Film Both Sides of the Camera - Softcover

But both Laura Mulvey and Julia Kristeva have shown, in different ways, that this omission of the mother provides some hope since it shows that patriarchal culture is not monolithic, not cleanly sealed. There are gaps through which women can begin to ask questions and introduce change. Motherhood becomes one place from which to begin to reformulate our position as women just because patriarchy has not dealt with it theoretically or in the social realm (i.e. by providing free childcare, free abortions, maternal leave, after-school child programs, etc.). Motherhood has been repressed on all levels except that of hypostatization, romanticization, and idealization. Yet women have been struggling with lives as mothers-silently, quietly, often in agony, often in bliss, but always on the periphery of a society that tries to make us all (men and women) forget our mothers.

Simply by making a movie, independent feminist filmmakers begin to claim the power to define and interpret the world for women. E. Ann Kaplan makes this basic concern of feminist theorists and filmmakers a critically important enterprise. Through her analysis of four films depicting different cinematic periods, Ann discusses how the male gaze in the camera eye, through its position of power, has defined, limited and viewed women wholly as erotic objects. She also describes women filmmakers' attempts to overturn the dichotomy of subject looking at the world as object by defining a path for women to speak on film as subjects. Ann suggests that the Mother, who has been mostly overlooked in male representations of women, is a good place for women interested in finding a voice outside patriarchal definitions to start. Lucid and provocative, this book will give filmmakers and viewers a world to think about, in the movies and in real life. -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Susan Eastman