The feeling of being caught between immersion in cinematic fictions and having one’s attention pulled away from them by a range of distractions has shaped the experience of cinema for many decades. In the 1910s, several developments emerged in tandem with each other: the promotion of films and their stars/directors, narrative becoming the dominant form of cinema production, and the materialization of tension between immersion and distraction for audiences. The environment in which 1910s promotional and narrational strategies thrived set the stage for how we have thought about the bodies of women on screen, behind the camera, and in the seats of the theater. This essay focuses on the example of Cleo Madison as a filmmaker, actress, and a site of discursive energy to explore these issues.
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Summer 2023
Research Article|
July 01 2023
What Women Want: Immersion and Distraction in and around the Movies Available to Purchase
Sarah Keller
Sarah Keller
Sarah Keller is Professor of Art and Cinema Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research focuses on experimental form, film experience, and feminist issues in cinema. Her most recent books are Anxious Cinephilia (Columbia University Press, 2020), which centers on the intertwined role of love and anxiety in encounters with cinema, and Barbara Hammer: Pushing Out of the Frame (Wayne State University Press, 2021), on the career of experimental filmmaker and artist Barbara Hammer.
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Feminist Media Histories (2023) 9 (3): 15–30.
Citation
Sarah Keller; What Women Want: Immersion and Distraction in and around the Movies. Feminist Media Histories 1 July 2023; 9 (3): 15–30. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2023.9.3.15
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