Alerting readers to a body of recent work that has gone under-examined, Tania Modleski redraws in Old Wives' Tales the perimeter of popular culture. A critical analysis of films such as "The Ballad of Little Jo, The Piano" and "Dogfight, Old Wives' Tales" also takes up performance, autobiographical experience, and contemporary social issues to illustrate how women's genres mediate between us and reality. Modelski examines the changes occurring in traditional women's genres, such as romances and melodrama, and explores the phenomenon of female authors and performers who "cross-dress"--women, that is, who are moving into male genres and staking out territory declared off-limits by men and by many feminists.

In a series of essays scrutinizing feminist and post-structuralists positions, Tania Modleski examines "the myth of postfeminism" and its operation in popular culture, especially popular film and cultural studies. (First published in 1991.)

Upon its first publication, Loving with a Vengeance was a groundbreaking study of women readers and their relationship to mass-market romance fiction. Feminist scholar and cultural critic Tania Modleski has revisited her widely read book, bringing to this new edition a review of the issues that have, in the intervening years, shaped and reshaped questions of women's reading. With her trademark acuity and understanding of the power both of the mass-produced object, film, television, or popular literature, and the complex workings of reading and reception, she offers here a framework for thinking about one of popular culture's central issues. This edition includes a new introduction, a new chapter, and changes throughout the existing text.

Originally published in 1988, The Women Who Knew Too Much remains a classic work in film theory and feminist criticism. The book consists of a theoretical introduction and analyses of seven important films by Alfred Hitchcock, each of which provides a basis for an analysis of the female spectator as well as of the male spectator. Modleski considers the emotional and psychic investments of men and women in female characters whose stories often undermine the mastery of the cinematic "master of suspense." The third edition features an interview with the author by David Greven, in which he and Modleski reflect on how feminist and queer approaches to Hitchcock studies may be brought into dialogue. A teaching guide and discussion questions by Ned Schantz help instructors and students to delve into this seminal work of feminist film theory.

Upon its first publication, Loving with a Vengeance was a groundbreaking study of women readers and their relationship to mass-market romance fiction. Feminist scholar and cultural critic Tania Modleski has revisited her widely read book, bringing to this new edition a review of the issues that have, in the intervening years, shaped and reshaped questions of women's reading. With her trademark acuity and understanding of the power both of the mass-produced object, film, television, or popular literature, and the complex workings of reading and reception, she offers here a framework for thinking about one of popular culture's central issues.
This edition includes a new introduction, a new chapter, and changes throughout the existing text.

Originally published in 1988, The Women Who Knew Too Much remains a classic work in film theory and feminist criticism. The book consists of a theoretical introduction and analyses of seven important films by Alfred Hitchcock, each of which provides a basis for an analysis of the female spectator as well as of the male spectator. Modleski considers the emotional and psychic investments of men and women in female characters whose stories often undermine the mastery of the cinematic "master of suspense." The third edition features an interview with the author by David Greven, in which he and Modleski reflect on how feminist and queer approaches to Hitchcock studies may be brought into dialogue. A teaching guide and discussion questions by Ned Schantz help instructors and students to delve into this seminal work of feminist film theory.

Alerting readers to a body of recent work that has gone under-examined, Tania Modleski redraws in Old Wives' Tales the perimeter of popular culture. A critical analysis of films such as "The Ballad of Little Jo, The Piano" and "Dogfight, Old Wives' Tales" also takes up performance, autobiographical experience, and contemporary social issues to illustrate how women's genres mediate between us and reality. Modelski examines the changes occurring in traditional women's genres, such as romances and melodrama, and explores the phenomenon of female authors and performers who "cross-dress"--women, that is, who are moving into male genres and staking out territory declared off-limits by men and by many feminists.

"Feminism Without Women" examines the operation of "postfeminism" in popular culture, especially popular film, and in cultural studies. Examining a range of films from "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" to "Lethal Weapon" and "Three Men and a Baby", Modleski offers a broad perspective on the future of feminism. In particular, she shows how women as social subjects are once again being relegated to the margins of discourse and society. The text is a response to the shift within feminist theory from "gynocritics" (a woman-centred critical practice) to increasingly male-oriented "gender studies". This move has been accompanied by feminist/philosophical attempts to abolish the very category of "woman".

"This is an important book for all students of literature andhistory." -- American Studies International

..".thoughtful and provocative.... the essays... grant complexity and contradiction tomass culture, while interrogating its objects from positions that -- explicitly orimplicitly -- derive from the left and from feminism." -- TheIndependent

These innovative and politically engaged essaysreflect the paradox inherent in taking a critical approach to massculture.

The contributors, in many cases pioneers in theirparticular area of inquiry, include: Tania Modleski, Raymond Williams (interviewedhere by Stephen Heath and Gillian Skirrow), Bernard Gendron, Rick Altman, MargaretMorse, Patricia Mellencamp, Judith Williamson, Jean Franco, Kaja Silverman, DanaPolan, and Andreas Huyssen.

What stories are women telling about themselves? What are the narratives that shape women's fantasy lives and experiences? How can women use the existing media of film, performance and autobiography to tell their own stories, their own lives, their own fantasies? Offering answers to these questions, this book considers how, and under what conditions, women might become the makers and not simply the bearers of meaning; how, in other words, women can tell instead of being told. In addition to discussing recent women's films such as "The Ballad of Little Jo", "The Piano" and "Dogfight", the book also examines the changes occurring in traditional women's genres such as romances and melodrama, and moves on to explore the phenomenon of women authors and performers who "cross-dress" - women, that is, who are moving into male genres and staking out territory declared off-limits not only by men, but also by many feminists.