Sportswomen in Cinema considers both documentary and fiction films from a variety of periods and cultures, by directors including Kathryn Bigelow, Gurinder Chadha, Im Soon-rye, George Kukor, Ida Lupino, and Leni Riefenstahl. Drawing from psychoanalytic and phenomenological theories, the book presents a series of landmark close readings of films featuring a variety of different forms of athletic activity, including baseball, basketball, bodybuilding, boxing, climbing, football, rollerderby, surfing, tennis and track and field. In focusing on themes such as gesture, screen space and sound, it moves beyond a purely narrative analysis of sports films. What's more, as well as building on existing scholarship in sports studies to argue that sport should always be conceived of as more than simply competitive, the book also contributes to ongoing efforts in film theory to foster new feminist discourses on sexual difference.
The ideas of thinkers such as Judith Butler, Bracha Ettinger, Griselda Pollock and Michel Serres are employed to explore how films featuring female athletes reflect changing perspectives on femininity and sexuality and also, potentially, contribute to transforming our perceptions about sportswomen and cinema. Sportswomen in Cinema is an important addition to the literature of film studies, gender studies and sports studies.
Papildus informācija
The sports film is a major genre in both English-language and world cinema. This trailblazing book examines the sub-genre of sports films that centre on female athletes. It addresses how cinematic depictions of sportswomen have, at times, challenged received ideas about femininity, sexuality and sport.
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 11
1.The Ascent of Woman : Climbing Films15
2.Sexing the Canvas : Boxing Films 41
3 Athletic Gestures : Women's Team Sports Films 67
4 Venus in Spikes: Track and Field Films 85
5 Muscle Pictures : Bodybuilding Films109
6 Shaping the Self: Martina Navratilova and the Tennis Film 131
7 Surfing Aesthetics: Towards a Matrixial Reading of Sports Films157
8 Conclusion: Raging Whippet 183
Notes197
Bibliography 223
Filmography 235
Index 239
Nicholas Chare is Lecturer in Gender Studies, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Australia. Also Visiting Research Fellow in the Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History, University of Leeds. Author of Auschwitz and Afterimages (2011) and a former editor of the journal Parallax.
