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Theories of Representation and Difference
The Desire to Desire: The Woman's Film of the 1940s
"Brilliantly argued and lucidly written . . . the definitive psychoanalytic account of the repression of woman in Hollywood cinema." ―Tania Modleski
" . . . complex and challenging . . . " ―The Women"s Review of Books
" . . . magnificently ambitious . . . some of the most original and intelligent essays in film theory today." ―Journal of Modern Literature
" . . . deeply commited to the psychoanalytic approach . . . " ―Contemporary Sociology
The Desire to Desire traces the way in which female spectatorship is specified primarily by its lapses or failures, arguing that the women's film simultaneously asserts and denies female desire, attributing to the woman only an impossible gaze.
" . . . complex and challenging . . . " ―The Women"s Review of Books
" . . . magnificently ambitious . . . some of the most original and intelligent essays in film theory today." ―Journal of Modern Literature
" . . . deeply commited to the psychoanalytic approach . . . " ―Contemporary Sociology
The Desire to Desire traces the way in which female spectatorship is specified primarily by its lapses or failures, arguing that the women's film simultaneously asserts and denies female desire, attributing to the woman only an impossible gaze.
212 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 27, 2008
Some good observations if you can get around the Lacanian crap. A highly influential book, widely assigned in film studies.
April 7, 2024
Another fucking Freudian analysis of Rebecca. Please, stop calling the camera a “phallus.”
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews