Motherhood Misconceived: Representing the Maternal in U.S. Films - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 143842812X ISBN 13: 9781438428123

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2009

Synopsis

First collection of essays on cinematic motherhood.

As celebrities sporting “baby bumps,” politicians, Olympic athletes, and talk show guests, mothers are ubiquitous throughout U.S. media and popular culture. Like lightning rods, these high-profile mothers attract accolades and judgments associated with ideals of female sexuality, gender roles, and constructions of contemporary families. Motherhood Misconceived explores this widespread cultural fascination with motherhood through analyses of mothers in contemporary U.S. film, including both mainstream and independent cinematic representations. The contributors draw on a variety of critical approaches to consider the spectacle of pregnancy; mother-daughter relationships; mothers as predators, narcissists, and absent victims; and the ways in which cultural anxieties are displaced and projected onto marginalized mothers in films such as Fargo; Transamerica; Gas, Food, Lodging; Ordinary People; and Scream. Ideal for women’s studies or film studies classes, Motherhood Misconceived will help students contextualize current debates about motherhood as they play out in popular and independent film.

About this title

From the Back Cover

As celebrities sporting "baby bumps," politicians, Olympic athletes, and talk show guests, mothers are ubiquitous throughout U.S. media and popular culture. Like lightning rods, these high-profile mothers attract accolades and judgments associated with ideals of female sexuality, gender roles, and constructions of contemporary families. Motherhood Misconceived explores this widespread cultural fascination with motherhood through analyses of mothers in contemporary U.S. film, including both mainstream and independent cinematic representations. The contributors draw on a variety of critical approaches to consider the spectacle of pregnancy; mother-daughter relationships; mothers as predators, narcissists, and absent victims; and the ways in which cultural anxieties are displaced and projected onto marginalized mothers in films such as Fargo; Transamerica; Gas, Food, Lodging; Ordinary People; and Scream. Ideal for women's studies or film studies classes, Motherhood Misconceived will help students contextualize current debates about motherhood as they play out in popular and independent film.

"This collection focuses on Hollywood's portrayal of motherhood in a clear, coherent fashion and addresses a variety of subtopics, including the mother-to-be, the single mother, the aging mother, the transsexual mother, and the mother in various genres." -- Lucy Fischer, author of Designing Women: Cinema, Art Deco, and the Female Form

About the Author

Heather Addison is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Western Michigan University and author of Hollywood and the Rise of Physical Culture.

Mary Kate Goodwin-Kelly is an independent scholar living in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Elaine Roth is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Indiana University South Bend.

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 143842812X
• ISBN 13: 9781438428123
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 278
• Editor: Addison Heather, Goodwin-Kelly Mary Kate, Roth Elaine