Women Scientists in Fifties Science Fiction Films

236 Pages·2005·19.244 MB·English

by  Bonnie Noonan

Women Scientists in
Fifties Science Fiction Films

Women Scientists
in Fifties Science
Fiction Films
BONNIE NOONAN
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Noonan, Bonnie, ¡949–
Women scientists in fifties science fiction films /
Bonnie Noonan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-¡3: 978-0-7864-2130-5
(softcover : 50# alkaline paper)
¡. Science fiction films—History and criticism. 2. Women
scientists in motion pictures. I. Title.
PN¡995.9.S26N66 2005
79¡.43'6¡5—dc22 20050¡¡46¡
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2005 Bonnie Noonan. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover photograph: Faith Domergue and Kenneth Tobey in the
¡955 film It Came from Beneath the Sea (Photofest)
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
This book is
“one small step”
for my cousin Timm Madden

Acknowledgments
Thank you to Elsie B. Michie and Robin A. Roberts at Louisiana State
University. Thanks also to Carol Lindsey, Karen Madden, Carol Mattingly,
and Leslie Parr for their faith and support. Thanks to Rebecca Mark for
giving me the idea to write about these films that I love in the first place.
A final note of gratitude to my mother, Marie Louise Madden Noonan
(July ¡5, ¡909—July ¡9, 2000).
vii

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
¡. Definitions and Histories 9
2. Constructing a Canon of ¡950s B Science Fiction Films 25
3. Representation of Women Scientists 48
4. Professionalism and Femininity in the Giant Insect Films 72
5. Cinematically Representing a Heteroglot World 103
6. Dreaming, Analyzing, and Joking in the Women-in-
Power Films 127
Conclusion. Where to Go from Here 155
Filmography 163
Appendix A: Female Leads and Their Father Figures 193
Appendix B: Female Leads and Their Love Interests 194
Notes 195
Bibliography 211
Index 215
ix