From Reverence to Rape
Book description
A revolutionary classic of feminist cinema criticism, Molly Haskell's From Reverence to Rape remains as insightful, searing, and relevant as it was the day it was first published. Ranging across time and genres from the golden age of Hollywood to films of the late twentieth century, Haskell analyzes images of…
Why read it?
2 authors picked From Reverence to Rape as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Film critic Molly Haskell provides an excellent narrative overview of the major eras, themes, and issues related to women in film, with particular emphasis on Hollywood’s best, worst, and most complex images and genres.
I especially like the section on “The Women’s Film” as it explains the form and function of melodramas, a.k.a. “the weepies,” which later became “the chick flick.” These films that focus on women’s lives and emotions both limit the way women were (and sometimes still are) portrayed on the big screen while simultaneously centering women’s lives in ways too few films have.
Join Haskell on a…
From Elyce's list on classic Hollywood from a scholar and fan of film.
Molly Haskell, like Thomson, is one of my idols. Her pioneering feminist account of how Hollywood depicted women from its golden age to the late twentieth century is also a monument to its supreme women actors, including Stanwyck and Davis, Hepburn and Bergman, and Monroe. Haskell is an expert at understanding how art shapes and responds to its era, and how film actors refine their roles.
From David's list on the movies.
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