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Spaces of female subjectivity in contemporary British women’s cinema

Spaces of female subjectivity in contemporary British women’s cinema
Spaces of female subjectivity in contemporary British women’s cinema
Conceptualising and representing female subjectivity in cinema remains a contentious problem for feminist film theory. This thesis argues that the notion of space is critical to this problematic, but remains overlooked in studies of women’s cinematic subjectivity. Drawing out the spatial investments and implications in key works on female subjectivity, this thesis demonstrates that psychoanalytic feminist film theory offers no space in which to figure the female subject. She can be represented as neither an embedded, embodied, interiorised nor mobile subject. Turning to more recent feminist film theory allows us to conceptualise a female subject who is spatially present; in other words, she can be figured as embedded, embodied, interiorised and mobile. Privileging British women’s filmmaking as a site where this subjective exploration takes place, this thesis examines a number of British women-authored films to consider how female subjectivity is represented through a specific spatialized mode of representation: as a marginalised subject in Belle (Amma Asante, 2014), as an embodied subject in Prevenge (Alice Lowe, 2016), as an affective subject in We Need to Talk about Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011) and as a mobile subject in Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009). In doing so, this thesis argues that a spatial analysis not only offers a theoretical and conceptual tool through which female representational subjectivity can be figured, but also enables these subjectivities to be contextualised within the specific social, cultural, political, national, and generic spatial frameworks through which these women are located, embodied, affected and move. British women’s cinema, then, is as much a realisation of the spatial possibilities of representing female subjectivity on screen, as it is a reflection on the spatial limitations of women in the contemporary moment.
University of Southampton
Smyth, Sarah
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Smyth, Sarah
129feb09-4e48-4f71-bcbf-10c3d96cb882
Cobb, Shelley
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Williams, Linda R
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Smyth, Sarah (2019) Spaces of female subjectivity in contemporary British women’s cinema. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 249pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Conceptualising and representing female subjectivity in cinema remains a contentious problem for feminist film theory. This thesis argues that the notion of space is critical to this problematic, but remains overlooked in studies of women’s cinematic subjectivity. Drawing out the spatial investments and implications in key works on female subjectivity, this thesis demonstrates that psychoanalytic feminist film theory offers no space in which to figure the female subject. She can be represented as neither an embedded, embodied, interiorised nor mobile subject. Turning to more recent feminist film theory allows us to conceptualise a female subject who is spatially present; in other words, she can be figured as embedded, embodied, interiorised and mobile. Privileging British women’s filmmaking as a site where this subjective exploration takes place, this thesis examines a number of British women-authored films to consider how female subjectivity is represented through a specific spatialized mode of representation: as a marginalised subject in Belle (Amma Asante, 2014), as an embodied subject in Prevenge (Alice Lowe, 2016), as an affective subject in We Need to Talk about Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011) and as a mobile subject in Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009). In doing so, this thesis argues that a spatial analysis not only offers a theoretical and conceptual tool through which female representational subjectivity can be figured, but also enables these subjectivities to be contextualised within the specific social, cultural, political, national, and generic spatial frameworks through which these women are located, embodied, affected and move. British women’s cinema, then, is as much a realisation of the spatial possibilities of representing female subjectivity on screen, as it is a reflection on the spatial limitations of women in the contemporary moment.

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Published date: May 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 437581
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/437581
PURE UUID: c39e63ae-4a78-45fa-af2d-bec83c1af690
ORCID for Shelley Cobb: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1153-8482

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 06 Feb 2020 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:15

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Contributors

Author: Sarah Smyth
Thesis advisor: Shelley Cobb ORCID iD
Thesis advisor: Linda R Williams

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