The radical notion that women like good movies
“The Depiction of Women in Three Films Based on the Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen” by Alisande Fitzsimons I rather like this ending to a film because despite not sticking to the original story, it offers viewers a chance to see something that is still relatively unusual on-screen: a successful male character giving up … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: The Roundup”
Official movie poster for We Need to Talk About Kevin This is a guest post by Amanda Lyons and is cross-posted with permission from her blog Mrs Meow Says. You know how I said in my review of Into the Wild that it was one of the most recent books I’ve read that disturbed me? … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’”
Movie poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca This is a guest post by Amanda Civitello. There is a trio of women at the heart of Rebecca. There’s a male love interest, to be sure – the dashing, wealthy, ostensibly noble Maxim de Winter – but at its most essential, Rebecca is a story of women: the … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: Mrs. Danvers, or: ‘Rebecca’”
Written by Leigh Kolb. The opening scene of Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet is an intense display of masculinity. While in the original text the Capulet and Montague men draw swords and taunt one another, Luhrmann’s rivals pull guns, rev car engines, smoke, shoot, and light fire to gasoline. Luhrmann’s 1996 film takes Shakespeare’s … Continue reading “The Tragedy of Masculinity in ‘Romeo + Juliet’”
Period dress This is a guest post by Jessica Freeman-Slade. Name more than five novels in which sex, and all its consequences, takes center stage. OK, you’ve got The Story of O, Justine (the infamous novel written by the Marquis de Sade), Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and of course, the juggernaut 50 Shades of Gray trilogy… … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: Slut-Shaming in the 1700s: ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ and ‘Cruel Intentions’”
Zora Neale Hurston This is a guest post by Martyna Przybysz. Hurston’s novel has found a huge following not only amongst African-American readers and writers, such as Alice Walker, but ever since being brought into the spotlight back in the 1970s, it has had a growing female readership. It is not an easy novel … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ by Zora Neale Hurston”
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman This is a guest post by Marcia Herring. “The Yellow Wallpaper” – the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman – is almost universally recognized as a work of feminist horror. The nameless narrator, put on bed rest by her doctor husband, and perhaps suffering from post-partum depression, seeks … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: "John Would Think It Absurd": How ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ Fails in Translation to the Screen”
Movie poster for Jane Eyre (2011) This is a guest post by Rhea Daniel. The ghosts of Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë have suffered several film adaptations of their most famous works, and the problem with multiple film adaptations of the same novel, however well-meaning or loyal to the text, is that watching three versions … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: A New Jane in Cary Fukunaga’s ‘Jane Eyre’ (2011)”
Official movie poster for Farewell My Concubine This is a guest post by René Kluge. [Trigger Warning for rape and sexual violence.] The protagonist in Farewell My Concubine (PR China, 1993) is a woman. Or is it? On the one hand the lead role is played by the famous male Hong Kong actor Leslie Cheung. … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: ‘Farewell My Concubine’”
Official movie poster for Farewell My Concubine This is a guest post by René Kluge. [Trigger Warning for rape and sexual violence.] The protagonist in Farewell My Concubine (PR China, 1993) is a woman. Or is it? On the one hand the lead role is played by the famous male Hong Kong actor Leslie Cheung. … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: ‘Farewell My Concubine’”
Written by Max Thornton. If people see a list of things I love – science fiction, fantasy, progressive rock, movies about zombies, witty and charming sitcoms that you will watch on NBC Thursday nights at 8/7c starting February 7 – they might be surprised to learn that I think ballet is awesome. If people see … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: ‘Ballet Shoes’”
Written by Amanda Rodriguez Hello all my new lovelies! I can’t tell you how excited I am to be the newest member of the Bitch Flicks writing team! I’m honored to be counted among such stellar, ass-kicking feminist pop culture gurus. When I consider what draws me to the examination of issues like gender, race, … Continue reading “Meet New Bitch Flicks Writer Amanda Rodriguez”
