The American Girl Goes to War
Women and National Identity in U.S. Silent Film
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Rutgers University Press
Published:14th Jan '22
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£124.00(9781978810167)
During the 1910s, films about war often featured a female protagonist. The films portrayed women as spies, cross-dressing soldiers, and athletic defenders of their homes—roles typically reserved for men and that contradicted gendered-expectations of home-front women waiting for their husbands, sons, and brothers to return from battle. The representation of American martial spirit—particularly in the form of heroines—has a rich history in film in the years just prior to the American entry into World War I. The American Girl Goes to War demonstrates the predominance of heroic female characters in in early narrative films about war from 1908 to 1919. American Girls were filled with the military spirit of their forefathers and became one of the major ways that American women’s changing political involvement, independence, and active natures were contained by and subsumed into pre-existing American ideologies.
“Documenting the many heroic women who populated war films of this era, Liz Clarke shows the strength and vitality of female characters onscreen, while remaining attentive to the key role that white femininity played in narratives of American national identity during this period. Framing her analysis within a rich cultural context, Clarke show how essential cinema was to evolving ideas about both nationhood and femininity in the first decades of the twentieth century.” -- Shelley Stamp * author of Movie-Struck Girls and Lois Weber in Early Hollywood *
"Brock prof’s new book explores women, war and silent film," by Amanda Bishop * The Brock News *
"This exciting, well-researched work crosses multidisciplinary boundaries and will be of value to those interested in cinema, gender studies, propaganda, history, and political science. Recommended for academic libraries." * Library Journal *
New Books Network: New Books in Women's History interview with Liz Clarke * New Books Network: New Books in Women's History *
ISBN: 9781978810150
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 15mm
Weight: 254g
184 pages