Product Description

In this introductory guide, the author identifies key feminist approaches to popular culture from the 1960s to the present and demonstrates how the relationship between feminism, femininity and popular culture has often been a troubled one. The book introduces the central ideas of both second-wave feminism and feminist cultural studies and demonstrates how they inform feminist debates about a range of popular forms and practices through a series of case studies including the woman's film, romantic fiction, soap opera, consumption and material culture. By showing the relationships between feminist positions within different fields of study, Joanne Hollows identifies the ways in which feminism has often been based on a rejection of both popular culture and femininity. The book examines the ways in which different feminist critics have drawn cultural distinctions between what is "feminist" and what is not, demonstrating how feminist identities were often produced through a refusal of feminine forms and practices and shows what implications these positions have for feminist cultural politics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #374889 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!
I'm currently writing a dissertation for film studies that involves feminist cultural criticism and this book has proved invaluable. Hollows goes into a great amount of detail about different feminist debates on popular culture in a very clear and easy-to-understand way, and her writing style is very pleasant to read. She touches upon the most important areas of cultural criticism (eg. for the film and tv section she looks at genre and psychoanalytic theories) and subjects the theorists she cites to a healthy dose of criticism, delineating the pros and cons of their arguments. If you have any interest in this topic, and particularly if you have an academic interest or you are a student trying to get to grips with this subject, I whole-heartedly recommend this book!