A Fine Romance: Five Ages of Film Feminism by Patricia Mellencamp; Kiss Me Deadly: Feminism and Cinema for the

Moment by Laleen Jayamanne Review by: Patricia White Signs, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter, 1998), pp. 519-524 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3175106 . Accessed: 05/01/2013 18:49
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ofstatistics aboutthepresence ofwomen intheprofession andan assessofthefeminist ment content ofphilosophy textbooks in 1993published that most 94. Nyefound texts include orno material little introductory by women let alone feminists. she Nevertheless, philosophers, optimistically that "as morewomen enter thefield, standard texts predicts may... be in favor of sources chosen bypassed completely original byinstructors" that demonstrate thework doneattheborder. (190) - sources being with which the Here,atitsend,canbe seenan echoofthecontention bookbegan; in little the "institutional behavior" despite relatively change of philosophy, feminist threat to themainphilosophy poses a serious a threat that "is paradoxically in thevery refusal of stream, acknowledged writers ... to mention its name" I am will[mainstream philosophy] (xii). thisis so; nevertheless, that ing-indeed eager--tobelieve optimism will in isdifferent from evidence that will. changes occur the profession they andFeminism is a bookthat couldwhet theappetite ofnew Philosophy readers offeminist those with familiar philosophy, perhaps particularly phimainstream tradition. I losophy's

A FineRomance: Feminism. PhilaFiveAges ofFilm ByPatricia Mellencamp. 1995. Press, delphia: Temple University KissMe Feminism andCinema theMoment. Edited for Deadly: byLaleen Jayamanne. Power 1995. Publications, Sydney:
Patricia White,Swarthloore College

on several continents. Tworecent one twenty-five years, contributions, - periodization one reflect on time andwhat American, Australian, the future holds--while that the for cinema at the acknowledging passion heart ofthis endeavor will critical narrative. Patricia disrupt any predictable andLaleenJayamanne havebeenprominent in what Mellencamp figures calls sincethelatter Mellencamp film feminism partof the 1970s; all of books areenriched as anindefatigable conMellencamp's byher experience ference andeducator, andJayamanne's 1985 filmA editor, organizer, Song wasoneofthefirst to bring a postcolonial of Ceylon consciousness political to therigorously formalist offemininity andrepresentation interrogation that from the feminist ofdominant cinema. Theconcepts grew of critique

eminist has been carrying on a stormy affair withthemoviesfor theory

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withwhichthesetwo books workare admittedly provisional; temporality "five a historical thefield ages" grant weightwhilemocking Mellencamp's claimsonlyto caplinearhistory withtheir and Jayamanne inventiveness, reand intellectual one of generational turea "moment, whichis notably theoreticism to the rigorous newal.And whilebothbooks arecommitted feminism is notedand aredottedwiththepropernamesof forwhichfilm - theyare also not thoseof theusual suspects male authorities although oforthodoxy a rejection hereentails Historical consciousness texts. activist of film feminist of a thoroughgoing and a senseof thetimeliness critique and cinema's millennium and media as we entera new image-saturated of thesebooks that It is ultimately second century. among the strengths and interested textsbut interesting new standard theyare not definitive In moment. crucial a to a collective contributions fact,Mellenproject, from which conference to the from her address keynote camp'sbook grew lead esvolumeis drawn.Her talkappearsas theanthology's Jayamanne's contribution. is its U.S. and only say Melsometimes An unabashedly writer, goofy, downright idiosyncratic, contiis rehearsals theoretical the necessary (What lencampcutsthrough and selfwith the Is humor, anecdote, male?) personal gaze editing? nuity critical omnivorous Her and is fresh her and expansive. perspective irony, Cover films classic and tastecombinesearly Girl, (The Cheat, Hollywood Moffatt artist films feminist withavant-garde Tracey byAboriginal Vertigo) features (NightCries, Bedevil), by women fromthe Republicof Georgia, to Basic in Seattle film eventsfrom mainstream and contemporary Sleepless brilliant Lisa Her authorities Instinct. spokesgirl Simpson ("a rangefrom asidesexplorecredits forfeminism," xi) to Michel Foucault,and frequent and the career of neurasthenia, the history literature, sequences,self-help women'sexcentral concern: her of of Clara Bow, all byway illuminating interject. "Wa-hoo,wa-hoo!" (96) she might perience. heraccountis film setsout to typologize feminisms, WhileMellencamp Her five and "biased comprise leakycategories (11). irregular" admittedly of theory" which"payshomageto thefrogprince "intellectual feminism," and whichMellencampexploresby way of such diversefilmsas Buster and of Little Women, Keaton'sSherlock, PulpFiction, Jr, the 1990s remake Foron lesbianhistory, theNationalFilmBoard of Canada's documentary is debidden which,likethe first category, feminism," Love,and "irascible it male terms. within and However, expresses finedby sexual difference or and the in Dead, Metropolis) terms at those (The Quick protoanger ways. "ExperioftheLambs,Thelmaand Louise) feminist (Silence cryptoit filmpractices. Rather, does not denote avant-garde mentalfeminism" diverse of in the work talented, differences" "other (9) exemplified explores such as JaneCampion,Callie Khouri, and screenwriters women directors

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and YvonneRainer. and "economical" feminisms aremeantto "Empirical" be materialist that take and moneyrather than sexual history categories as points of departureand critique,and the former, difference antiis rubric for work such as intuitively, Mellencamp's avant-garde Jayamanne's.Mellencamprepeatedly invokesVirginia Woolf'sdictumthatfinancialautonomy is crucial to women'screativity, and sheis right in stressa its to like medium Yet ing importance capital-intensive filmmaking. are so that difficult to are not categories frankly distinguish among terribly fruitful Nor do theymake fora waysto organizean intellectual history. balancedbook: age one,intellectual as a "blindalley" introduced feminism, nevertheless merits 112 while five is (16), pages, age veryeconomicalindeed- a scantten-page to and her Potter film Orlando. paean Sally Mellencamp's overarching trope-romance, or "What Cinderellaand Snow WhiteForgotto TellThelmaand Louise" thetitleof herintroduction-allows her directly to connectwider cultural mythsabout female and ever to the after often arcanelanguage beauty, aging, livinghappily of feminist filmtheory(whose indebtedness to Lacanian psychoanalysis is typified in Laura Mulvey'scrucialessay, "VisualPleasureand Narrative Cinema"[1975]).1 Obsessionis an everyday whosepsychoanalytic concept acts drivenby anxious thought) description (compulsive, self-canceling forfilm retrieves herincessant returns Mellencamp analysis; unfortunately, to theidea of romance enactrather thanelucidate obsession.For example, hernods to lesbiancritiques of heterosexism in feminist theories of narrativeandthegaze ("womanas image/man as bearer ofthelook" in Mulvey's canceledout byherdefinition of lesbianism as little phrase)areultimately more thanwaitingforthe princess rather thanthe prince(8, 105). And "What'sa whitegirlto do?" (276), howeverself-mocking a question,is an adequateapproach to long-standing debateson racialand ethnic hardly and attendantquestions of history, representation authorship, spectaand critical and priorities. torship, paradigms ebullient inclusiveness too frequently excludes herreader; Mellencamp's her breathless forno longerthanthe prose pauses forpassingreferences beatof a commasplice:"Thus passingresembles and mimicry, camouflage with "Thus it has been arguedthatBlackVicalong masquerade"(237). toriawas a stereotype in the serviceof blackmen, whichmightexplain Our Gates']end" (231). The book would be muchmoreeffective [Within ifaggressively editedforlength(one BusbyBerkeley or Nora Ephronfilm would be sufficient; footnotes aretoo numerous andwordy, yetsometimes citations are omittedor misplaced)and structural The necessary clarity.
LauraMulvey, "VisualPleasureand Narrative Cinema," in Patricia Issues Erens, reprinted in Feminist FilmCriticism IndianaUniversity (Bloomington: Press,1990), 28-40.

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fewincorrect (it'sKatharine [36]) andmisstatements Hepburn spellings offact in Blonde doesnottravel with Dietrich's character Venus (Marlene claims on page 39, although an African American maidas Mellencamp but inthefilm) areminor, scene McDaniel doeshavean important Hattie so much in and trust take in a its reader to matter book that asks they
information.

hearMellenA FineRomance is a pedagogical book-you can almost and lived on of a wealth the teacher, experience knowledge drawing camp, and age-the topics on avant-garde television, film, comedy, (comments verbal virtuosher If books areespecially ofher other incisive). youenjoy in threads to be picked in this up later dropped youcanwaitfor way, ity not do does ofacademic time thebook.Theturnaround justice publishing to attract choice toMellencamp's (anda wiseone,ifonewishes refreshing toemphasize tocinema ofwomen newgenerations studies) contemporary would the Kiss didnotexactly French films. Mellencamp capture zeitgeist; loved it I But ... is film reviewer a great make ("This IsMyLife schmaltzy. children and and and work children between with thetug andempathized 92). dating," theMoandCinemafor Feminism KissMe collection, Deadly: Jayamanne's and Its avoids also ment, transgenerational, predictability.transnational, theoand films ofnoncanonical theinclusion means orientation aesthetic and the own its to create has volume The retical timeliness, paradigms. aremixed. results femiaremostly discussed The films scholarly ripefor bymaleauteurs andRobert Scorsese suchas Martin Bresson, nist commentary: bignames is aesthetic RaulRuiz,whose exile suchas Chilean andmavericks baroque whose of Nicholas and own in taken Roeg, up Jayamanne's contribution, avers: Moffatt Walkabout film 1971 survival-in-the-outback Tracey trippy this to loving whowilladmit inAustralia I'm theonly "I think aborigine in film Australia's But on feminism, film" prominence given (quoted 61). Barbara workof Jayamanne, the theoretical Creed, not onlythrough but contributor Me Deadly andKiss Stern, also Lesley Morris, Meaghan exshort lesbian socialissuedocumentaries, films, thenumerous through since women Australian films feature and by works, produced perimental a FilmFundor independent initiatives, theWomen's the1970s,through in one were book this "moment" that the wish U.S. reader captured might If Gillian more women's Armstrong centrally.2 which figured filmmaking more and international are andJane experimennames, younger Campion Morehouse andJocelyn asAnaKokkinos such taldirectors theBrave) (Only
2 Annette eds.,Don'tShoot BarbaraCreed,and FredaFreiburg, Darling!Women's Blonski, inAustralia 1987). (Richmond:Greenhouse, Filmmaking Independent

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known intheUnited States. It is infact aretoolittle Mellencamp's (Proof) that discusses film and stunningly Jayamanne's Rehearsing Moffatt's essay from herextensive filmmakers' eccentric statements, ouevre; quotations toward on Australian andlocalpress informants peoples, aboriginal policy foran evenmoreculturally account of whettheappetite contextualized the woman director to whom work.Instead, only women's Australian is Kathryn whosemade-inan essayis devoted Bigelow(BlueSteel), area fine feminist Deadly puzzle.ButKissMe genre parodies Hollywood - itsimanother real of Australian feminism demonstrates strength amply a "few with statements" dull, (4) infarehearsing programmatic patience for and cultural usable elements. Walter vorofmining theory philosophy and Michel de Certeau on "the on and Benjamin collecting photography to cinema in of life" are used and, parstudies, approach practice everyday with themoving thenature ofourencounter ticular, image, differently. Deleuzewhoseinfluence is freshest Butitis French Gilles philosopher on the of film as a andmost evident here, particularly reconceptualization In histwovolumes time-based medium. on cinema, hedevelops andvalorizes thenotion ofthetime-image. Putrather thetime-image reductively, a take oflongduration) asks ustoperceive todisrupt our anew, (frequently and attention automatic to the cinema. ordinary sensory-motor response Chantal frontal shots ofa woman Akerman's medium-long potapeeling inreal toesandperforming other household tasks time inJeanneDielmann Butthese contributors arenotjustusing (1975) wouldbe a goodexample. Deleuzeto elevate one director's artoverothers, muchlessto prescribe offilming orseeing. Mostnotably, "feminine" Deleuze's ideasfaciliways tatea break from models of lack desire and in film predictably gendered heads one section of her book: "Black Aesthetics: viewing. Mellencamp Eisenstein andGilles while women to Deleuze?"; Sergei Why encouraging newtheoretical shereminds us that "the models, explore [are]at emperors leastsemi-naked" ofauthority, and affilia(21). Suchquestions homage, tionarecrucial ones.Admittedly, thetheoretical edifices to constructed discuss film texts inessays on involuntary authorBrooks, memory byJodi Romanticism shipandGerman byToniRoss,orthefourth-person singularbyMelissa McMahon aresomewhat andessays on Bigelow top-heavy, and R. W. Fassbinder/Alexander Islamand Michelle KlugebyNeedeya are deferential to these filmmakers' work. Langford, respectively, overly Butthevolume's as wellas itsececticism a reassuring sense rigor provide oftrueintellectual in the more adventuring--for example, experimental ofJayamanne andStern The RedShoes meets (inheressay, writing Raging Bull--andthey of Roeg'sBad click)or in thescopeof Ross'saccount Timing. Excellent film feminist texts and anthologies introductory (Kaplan,

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Book Reviews

Kuhn,Erens,Carson) have bynow sunkintothewatertableof women's studies.3 to new workbywomen enriches the commitment Mellencamp's field.When not captured films in criticism, fadefromview,and teachers and studentshave missed too many"moments"? collection Jayamanne's introducesfascinating to what contributor theoretical Jodi approaches to the veryidea of Brooks calls our "obsessive, monomaniacal attraction cinema"(77). Both texts revive theflame forfeminists. I
Film Voices inFeminist Diane Carson,Linda Dittmar, and Janice R. Welsch, eds.,Multiple ofMinnesotaPress,1994); Erens;E. AnnKaplan,Women Criticism (Minneapolis:University and Film: BothSidesoftheCamera (New York: Methuen, 1983); AnnetteKuhn, Women's and Cinema,2d ed. (London: Verso,1994). Pictures: Feminism
3

ParisWasa Woman: Portraitsfrom theLeftBank. ByAndreaWeiss.San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 1995. in Yeats's LovePoetry. and History Gender By ElizabethButlerCullingford. N.Y.: Syracuse Press,1996. University Syracuse, inLiterary Otherness andthe TheMirror Killer-Queen: Language.ByGabriele and Indianapolis:IndianaUniversity Schwab.Bloomington Press,1996.
of Delaware Bonnie Kime Scott, University

l three of these bookswill interestthose who view modernism and aplens. They rangewidelyin theirdifficulty a feminist through Was a Weiss's Paris of Andrea from the portraits biographical peal, theoretical Womanto the abstract constructions, appliedto experimental In betweenis and theKiller-Queen. of GabrieleSchwab'sTheMirror texts, which love of Yeats's reconsideration ElizabethButler poetry, Cullingford's while accessible in Ireland of women context historical makesthe highly modernists. of male studies withthegrowing bodyof feminist engaging a celebratory and illustrations with tone,Paris exhibiting glossy Replete women the audienceforthe extraordinary Wasa Womanshould increase is a spinbook wars. The the between Bank the for Left tone set the who of It has much of the same film title. offof Weiss'sfeature documentary in Stein Gertrude thesamevisualand narrative appeal as RenataStendhal's of the principal not just photographs and Pictures. Words By reproducing Weiss and butalso imagesofletters, characters covers, clippings, passports, the to readers connect Notes archives. the in interest stimulates primary

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