Painted women : framing portraits in film noir and the gothic woman's film of the 1940s
Painted women : framing portraits in film noir and the gothic woman's film of the 1940s
This thesis examines films produced by the Hollywood cinema of the 1940s which contain portraits as a feature of their narratives. Whilst portraits are found in a number of cinematic genres, they are most common in the critical categories of film noir and the gothic woman's film. Framed images within cinematic narratives foreground the definitive power of frames, so identifying and interrogating frames is a key argumentative strategy of the thesis. The thesis breaks into two parts; part one focuses on portraits in film noir and part two on the gothic woman's film.
Chapter One examines the genre criticism on film noir, showing that images of gender (the fatally seductive femme fatale and the male investigator) have been key to critical constructions of the category, constructions challenged by a number of films. Close analysis of films such as Laura (1944) and Gilda (1946) reveals a range of gendered images, showing that male characters are often more questionable than female ones. The visual framing of female characters is also challenged through the contribution of film sound and music to these narratives. Chapter Two continues the examination of film noir with examples of films with plots centring on the framing of male characters; films such as I Wake Up Screaming (1942), Phantom Lady (1944) and The Dark Corner (1946). The framed male is freed through the actions of a female investigator. The character who frames the 'patsy' has a pathological relationship with a frame image of a woman; thus a number of frames, textual, narrative, and critical intersect in these films. Part one shows that, contrary to much criticism, a range of female roles and activities are evident in film noir.
Chapters Three and Four focus on portraits in the gothic woman's film, films such as Rebecca (1940), Gaslight (1944), Dragonwyck (1947) and The Two Mrs Carrolls (1947).
University of Southampton
Hanson, Helen
fe4a8065-8b0d-4b30-a658-cd433570c2ec
2000
Hanson, Helen
fe4a8065-8b0d-4b30-a658-cd433570c2ec
Hanson, Helen
(2000)
Painted women : framing portraits in film noir and the gothic woman's film of the 1940s.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis examines films produced by the Hollywood cinema of the 1940s which contain portraits as a feature of their narratives. Whilst portraits are found in a number of cinematic genres, they are most common in the critical categories of film noir and the gothic woman's film. Framed images within cinematic narratives foreground the definitive power of frames, so identifying and interrogating frames is a key argumentative strategy of the thesis. The thesis breaks into two parts; part one focuses on portraits in film noir and part two on the gothic woman's film.
Chapter One examines the genre criticism on film noir, showing that images of gender (the fatally seductive femme fatale and the male investigator) have been key to critical constructions of the category, constructions challenged by a number of films. Close analysis of films such as Laura (1944) and Gilda (1946) reveals a range of gendered images, showing that male characters are often more questionable than female ones. The visual framing of female characters is also challenged through the contribution of film sound and music to these narratives. Chapter Two continues the examination of film noir with examples of films with plots centring on the framing of male characters; films such as I Wake Up Screaming (1942), Phantom Lady (1944) and The Dark Corner (1946). The framed male is freed through the actions of a female investigator. The character who frames the 'patsy' has a pathological relationship with a frame image of a woman; thus a number of frames, textual, narrative, and critical intersect in these films. Part one shows that, contrary to much criticism, a range of female roles and activities are evident in film noir.
Chapters Three and Four focus on portraits in the gothic woman's film, films such as Rebecca (1940), Gaslight (1944), Dragonwyck (1947) and The Two Mrs Carrolls (1947).
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Published date: 2000
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Local EPrints ID: 464408
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/464408
PURE UUID: b8a93723-1b01-4724-908b-7f0012be017e
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 23:35
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:29
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Author:
Helen Hanson
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