And the Mirror Cracked: Feminist Cinema and Film Theory

by Anneke Smelik

And The Mirror Cracked explores the politics and pleasures of contemporary feminist cinema. Tracing the productive ways in which feminist directors create alternative film forms, Anneke Smelik highlights cinematic issues which are central to feminist authorship, point of view, metaphor, montage, and the excessive image. In a continuous mirror game between theory and cinema, this study explains how these cinematic techniques are used to represent female subjectivity positively and affirmatively. Among the films considered are A Question of Silence, Bagdad Café, and Sweetie and the Virgin Machine.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Film

227 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It offers a good review of the great years of feminist film theory, whereas brings notable names of the field like mulvey, de lauretis, kaplan, doane, etc and revisit they theories. It also brings for debate other points like queerness and racism. Good for beginners

[n n · Rating 1 out of 5]

Forced and boring.

[Belleofthebrawl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on feminist theory in films.