Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Female Moments / Male Structures: The Representation Of Women In Romantic Comedies, Jordan A. Scharaga

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again. With this formula it seems that romantic comedies are actually meant for men instead of women. If this is the case, then why do women watch these films? The repetition of female stars like Katharine Hepburn, Doris Day and Meg Ryan in romantic comedies allows audiences to find elements of truth in their characters as they grapple with the input of others in their life choices, combat the anxiety of being single, and prove they are less sexually naïve than society would like to admit. In 1999, a character struggles …

Leading Ladies?: Feminism And The Hollywood New Wave, Allison A. Smith

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

In the late 1960s, a new film movement emerged in Hollywood cinema known as the Hollywood New Wave. The women’s movement began roughly the same time as the Hollywood New Wave, but feminism was rarely a topic discussed in Hollywood cinema. The Hollywood New Wave is often considered a “boy’s club,” in the sense that most of the filmmakers, actors and other crewmembers were male and writing stories about male experiences. Women did have a part in these films in a limited way, yet there are some examples of strong female characters in select films.

Review: Karen Ward Mahar (2008): Women Filmmakers In Early Hollywood, Sara Ross

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Book review

Mahar, Karen Ward. Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

This book will be a useful reference for feminist and film historians looking to expand their understanding of how film and business history can help to explain the gendering of filmmaking.