The Vulnerable Spectator: “It Was the Seventies”

This entry of the “Vulnerable Spectator” column draws upon Jennifer Fox's autobiographical film The Tale (2018), which struggles with the filmmaker's memories of the 1970s, in order to reconsider the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (dir. Martin Scorsese). Situating Alice within the history of women's contributions to US commercial film production and feminist film theory, Hastie argues both for a recognition of Ellen Burstyn's authorial role in regard to the film and for a more expansive theoretical and historiographic practice in relation to the era. This column kicks off a series of VS columns that will revisit U.S. films of the 1970s in order to understand their historical, theoretical, and contemporary relevance.