Reclaiming the Archive: Feminism and Film History

470 Pages·2010·9.62 MB·English

by  Vicki Callahan

Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Series
A complete listing of the books in this series can be found online at wsupress.wayne.edu
General Editor
Barry Keith Grant
Brock University
Advisory Editors Peter X. Feng
Patricia B. Erens University of Delaware
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Lisa Parks
Lucy Fischer University of California–Santa Barbara
University of Pittsburgh
Frances Gateward
Caren J. Deming Ursinus College
University of Arizona
Walter Metz
Robert J. Burgoyne Montana State University
Wayne State University
Thomas Leitch
Tom Gunning University of Delaware
University of Chicago
Anna McCarthy
New York University
00 Callahan FM.indd 2 1/13/10 11:28 AM
the
FeminisWmayn ea Stnated Un ivFerisiltym Pre ssH istory
Detroit
wayne state university press detroit
00 Callahan FM.indd 3 1/13/10 11:28 AM
© 2010 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced without formal permission. Manufactured in the United States of
America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reclaiming the archive : feminism and film history / edited by Vicki Callahan.
p. cm. — (Contemporary approaches to film and television series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8143-3300-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Feminism and motion pictures. 2. Women in motion pictures. 3. Women in the motion picture
industry. 4. Feminist film criticism. I. Callahan, Vicki.
PN1995.9.W6R445 2010
791.43’651—dc22
2009041403
“Black and White: Mercedes de Acosta’s Glorious Enthusiasms” by Patricia White originally appeared
in a longer format in Camera Obscura 45, vol. 15.3 (2001). Reprinted by permission.
“On Cyberfeminism and Cyberwomanism: High-Tech Mediations of Feminism’s Discontents” by
Anna Everett is adapted from her essay “Double Click: The Million Woman March on Television
and the Internet” in Television after TV: Essays on a Medium in Transition, ed. Lynn Spigel and Jan
Olsson (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004), 224–41; it also appears in Digital Diaspora:
A Race for Cyberspace, by Anna Everett (New York: SUNY Press, 2009). Reprinted by permission.
An earlier version of “The Birth of the Local Feminist Sphere in the Global Era: Yeoseongjang
and ‘Trans-cinema’” by Soyoung Kim appeared in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 4.1 (2003), 10–24.
Reprinted by permission.
ISBN 978-0-8143-3687-8 (e-book)
00 Callahan FM.indd 4 1/13/10 11:28 AM
00 Callahan FM.indd 5 1/13/10 11:28 AM
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Reclaiming the Archive:
Archaeological Explorations toward a Feminism 3.0 1
Vicki Callahan
I. Gazing Outward: The Spectrum of Feminist Reception History 9
Laura Mulvey
1. Unmasking the Gaze: Feminist Film Theory,
History, and Film Studies 17
Janet Staiger
2. Les Belles Dames sans Merci, Femmes Fatales,
Vampires, Vamps, and Gold Diggers: The Transformation
and Narrative Value of Aggressive Fallen Women 32
Annette Kuhn
3. “I wanted life to be romantic, and I wanted to
be thin”: Girls Growing Up with Cinema in the 1930s 58
Suzanne Leonard
4. The “True Love” of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton 74
Terri Simone Francis
5. “She Will Never Look”: Film Spectatorship,
Black Feminism, and Scary Subjectivities 98

vii
00 Callahan FM.indd 7 1/13/10 11:28 AM
CONTENTS
II. Rewriting Authorship 127
Shelley Stamp
6. Lois Weber, Star Maker 131
Ayako Saito
7. Reading as a Woman: The Collaboration
of Ayako Wakao and Yasuzo Masumura 154
Geneviève Sellier
8. Women in the Nouvelle Vague:
The Lost Continent? 176
Victoria Duckett
9. Investigating an Interval: Sarah Bernhardt, Hamlet,
and the Paris Exposition of 1900 193
Yvonne Tasker
10. Vision and Visibility: Women Filmmakers,
Contemporary Authorship, and Feminist Film Studies 213
Patricia White
11. Black and White: Mercedes de Acosta’s
Glorious Enthusiasms 231
III. Excavating Early Cinema 259
Sumiko Higashi
12. Vitagraph Stardom: Constructing Personalities
for “New” Middle-Class Consumption 264
Giuliana Muscio
13. Clara, Ouida, Beulah, et. al.: Women Screenwriters
in American Silent Cinema 289
Amy Shore
14. Making More than a Spectacle of Themselves:
Creating the Militant Suffragette in Votes for Women 309
Joanne Hershfield
15. Visualizing the Modern Mexican Woman:
Santa and Cinematic Nation-Building 329
viii
00 Callahan FM.indd 8 1/13/10 11:28 AM
CONTENTS
Sandy Flitterman-Lewis
16. Sisters in Rebellion: The Unexpected Kinship
of Germaine Dulac and Virginia Woolf 345
IV. Constructing a (Post)feminist Future 359
Michele Schreiber
17. “Misty Water-Colored Memories of the Way We Were . . .”
Postfeminist Nostalgia in Contemporary Romance Narratives 364
Anna Everett
18. On Cyberfeminism and Cyberwomanism: High-Tech
Mediations of Feminism’s Discontents 384
Soyoung Kim
19. The Birth of the Local Feminist Sphere
in the Global Era: Yeoseongjang and “Trans-cinema” 399
Vicki Callahan
20. The Future of the Archive: An Interview
with Lynn Hershman Leeson 418
Contributors 431
Index 435
ix
00 Callahan FM.indd 9 1/13/10 11:28 AM
Acknowledgments
Reclaiming the Archive: Feminism and Film History is truly a collaborative
work that would not have been completed without the efforts and sup-
port of many people. My desire to make the book as inclusive as possible
produced issues of scope, size, and duration that required what seemed at
times like an army of feminist volunteers to see it to completion. I am very
grateful for the sustained help from a group of magnificent scholars who
provided close readings, needed feedback and commentary, and especially
enthusiasm and good cheer when at times the project seemed daunting
and impossible.
Several people served in a coediting capacity on the book but the vi-
cissitudes of life and academia called them elsewhere as the project’s lifes-
pan extended beyond the normal tour of duty. First and foremost, Alison
McKee provided clarity, organization, and her incredible editing skills to
the project when I was most in need of all three talents—simply put, this
book would not have been completed without her labor and solid scholar-
ship. Kelley Conway and Jennifer Holt both worked diligently in the early
stages of the book to help map out the scope and define the parameters of
the work. Jennifer’s early enthusiasm for the project launched the enter-
prise and shaped the focus of the work particularly as a cross-generational
venture.
I am also grateful to several scholars who generously took time out
from their busy schedules to read essays and introductions at various stages
and give needed expertise: Sumiko Higashi, Janet Staiger, and Gregory
Jay all pitched in on short notice with their impeccable analysis and al-
ways honest and direct commentary. Sumiko and Janet have become for
me especially wonderful and lively interlocutors on issues of feminism,
media, and history, and I have enjoyed their friendship, intellectual rigor,
and laughter over many meals (and in Janet’s case, museum tours). Su-
xi
00 Callahan FM.indd 11 1/13/10 11:28 AM
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
zanne Leonard deserves a special shout-out for her ongoing interventions
as skillful editor and postfeminist scholar extraordinaire. I also would like
to thank a group of feminist scholars who provided input or made sugges-
tions on the project over the years and have greatly influenced how I have
understood and shaped the work: Jane Gaines, Janet Bergstrom, Diane
Negra, Yvonne Welbon, Rachel Raimist, Britta Sjogren, Catherine Grant,
Vivian Sobchack, Lisa Nakamura, Nam Lee, and Anne Friedberg especially
provided important ideas and commentary that I found invaluable.
Although credited with the photos later in the book, a special thank-
you goes to the Kobal Collection and Ricky Byrd, Shelley Stamp, Lynn
Hershman Leeson, and Jeff Aldrich for their extra effort and generosity
with the images they supplied.
I must also acknowledge my contributors, who have been overwhelm-
ingly supportive and enthusiastic about this book; they have truly sus-
tained and inspired me. My graduate students from assorted feminist film
studies seminars over the years also deserve special acknowledgment. I have
been very fortunate to work with some amazing young scholars at UCLA,
UC-Irvine, and UWM interested in media and gender issues, many of
whom are now well on their way to outstanding careers of their own.
Wayne State University Press has, as always, provided solid editorial
support. Their commitment to this, at times, unwieldy and complicated
project has been steadfast and spirited. Barry Keith Grant and assorted
readers from the press gave incisive and crucial critical insights that ensured
the book’s integrity and quality of scholarship. Jane Hoehner and Annie
Martin were both relentlessly resilient and helpful throughout this long
endeavor. Annie Martin has been a particularly important force behind
this project. I can say without exaggeration every conversation and e-mail I
had with Annie left me energized and with a clear sense of direction about
how best to proceed. Carrie Downes Teefey deserves particular credit for
her meticulous care and concern in the final editing stages.
Lastly, I must thank my husband, John Callahan, who is probably
upstairs right now formatting something or other for a project or class I
am working on. He always identifies himself as the “sales guy” at parties,
but he is undoubtedly one of best analytical readers I have encountered.
John is also the center of calm and wisdom in the household and thus any
bumps along the path of the book’s completion were always put into his
usual Zen-like perspective. His unwavering support, energy, and passion-
ate belief in the project from the very beginning to the last footnote make
him an important contributor to this collection.
xii
00 Callahan FM.indd 12 1/13/10 11:28 AM