Overview

This book examines the relationship between suburbia and gender in the cinema of the 1970s, locating itself within a contemporary tend in scholarly criticism that has seen a remarkable increase in research in 70s history and culture. Following some of the key works by scholars such as the historian Bruce Schulman (1995) and film critics Peter Lev (2000) and Thomas Elsaesser (2005), this work argues for a reassessment of two classic films which literally captured the spirit of the decade. These films - John Cassavetes's A Woman Under the Influence and Martin Scorcese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - offered a unique representation of the tension between traditional values and the late Sixties counter-culture in the United States in the early Seventies, by featuring as protagonists two ordinary women struggling for emancipation in suburban areas of the country. The analysis of these films paves the way for an enlarged discussion and research assessment of the contradictory revival of the Seventies suburbia genre in the movies of the last fifteen years especially focusing on Todd Haynes work in Far From Heaven. The study is divided in three main parts. The first examines suburbanization and the effects of gender construction in the United States in the early Seventies from a variety of viewpoints and sources: sociological, historical and cultural. The second part provides in-depth critical readings and discussions of films of the period now widely regarded as classics of the mainstream and independent cinema. The third and last section is an overview of the American revival of the theme of the suburban woman in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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9781933146973

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