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[ecrea] Film, Fashion & Consumption 7.2 published

Thu Nov 22 15:22:29 GMT 2018



Intellect is happy to announce that Film, Fashion & Consumption 7.2 is now available! For more information about the special issue, click here >> https://bit.ly/2R0Yu00

Special Issue: Representing Style and Female Agency in the 1960s.

*Contents*

_Editorial_

Authors: Katie Milestone And Joan Ormrod
Page Start: 91

_Cool, sunglasses and the modern woman: Icons of the 1960s
_
Authors: Vanessa Brown
Page Start: 97

This article considers the enduring appeal of certain iconic images of (sub)urban/e women of the 1960s: Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961); Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver; and ‘Lolita’ as depicted in the promotional poster for Kubrick’s 1962 film. These are considered in relation to the idea of ‘coolness’, an attribute explored as problematic, yet generally desirable. Frequently perceived as a male attribute, even a male pathology, this article explores cool specifically in relation to iconic images of women, and their potential meanings both at the time of their creation and in the present day. It demonstrates how connections between coolness and modernity are articulated in imagery of women by the wearing of sunglasses, a material and embodied practise that allows acts of gazing to be nuanced in a variety of ways. At first sight, these images may have multiple, ambiguous and apparently contradictory meanings (from ‘nymphet’ to patriarchal refuser) but I will argue that viewing them through the use of sunglasses and the lens of ‘modern cool’ helps to refocus their power and continued, broad appeal as current benchmarks of still desirable, modern femininities, and therefore, their presence in a plethora of pastiches, consumer products and style discourses.

_From a lady to a lost ‘Prole’: Girls in the city in Polish cinema of the 1960s and early 1970s_

Authors: Ewa Mazierska
Page Start: 115

The term ‘girl’ is by no means neutral, but culture-specific. A person called a ‘girl’ in one decade or place might not be classified as ‘girl’ in another. It is widely assumed that in the 1960s the very concept of ‘girlhood’ undertook a profound transformation. However, such claims are usually directed towards western culture. Much less has been written about girls in the countries of state socialism. To make up for this gap, this article considers representations of girls in two Polish films from the beginning of the 1960s, Niewinni czarodzieje (Innocent Sorcerers) (1960), directed by Andrzej Wajda and Do widzenia, do jutra (Good Bye, Till Tomorrow) (1960), directed by Jerzy Morgenstern; and two from the beginning of the 1970s, Seksolatki (Sex-Teenagers) (1971), directed by Zygmunt Hubner and Dziewczyny do wzięcia (Girls to Pick Up) (1971), directed by Janusz Kondratiuk – all set in two large Polish cities, Warsaw and Gdansk. It examines their appearance, their interests, their attitude to sex and their place in the city culture. Of special interest is the relationship between girlhood and class.

_‘Who’s the girl with the kissin’ lips?’ Constructions of class, popular culture and agentic girlhood in Girl, Princess, Jackie and Bunty in the 1960s_

Authors: Mel Gibson
Page Start: 131

This article focuses on four British periodicals incorporating or dominated by comic strips aimed at girls of different ages: Girl (Hulton Press, 1951−64), Princess (Fleetway, 1960−67), Jackie (DC Thomson, 1964−93) and Bunty (DC Thomson, 1958−2001). It will explore how these titles depicted agentic girlhood, class and popular culture. The periodicals show varying degrees of engagement with popular culture, varying according to adult constructions of girls as vulnerable and in need of protection. Some are more permissive and the voice of the girl appears within them, in others there is a more paternalistic approach. This has an impact, in turn, on the kind of co ntent that they offered.

_1960s surfsploitation films: Sex, the bikini and the active female body_

Authors: Joan Ormrod
Page Start: 147

From 1959 to 1966, approximately 66 Hollywood films were produced to exploit the surfing craze. Surfsploitation, the surf craze of the early 1960s, crossed music, comics, television, advertising and films. Films, especially, focused on the importance of the bikini in their promotion. The bikini, a liminal piece of clothing, conceals and yet reveals the naked body. The film’s producers emphasized the appeal of the bikini in the films’ cross-media promotion, which promised sex but delivered inane plots, dependent on comedy, pop music and fantasy for their continuing appeal. In the early 1960s the bikini was perceived as an erotic item of clothing from Europe. To appeal to American perceptions of the garment, in fashion and consumerism it was repackaged as related to sport and fun for the female teenage body. Comparing promotional and advertising materials of consumer culture with that of the films, this article explores how the bikini articulated notions of the active yet passive female body in this era on the cusp between the reactionary 1950s and the emergence of second-wave feminism of the late 1960s. Although the promotion from the films promised sex, they were highly moral. Yet the representations of the active female body in the films and their promotional materials reveal the debates around female agency for the early 1960s, an era when girls had to negotiate the societal demands of the reactionary 1950s with the demands placed upon women by second-wave feminism of the later 1960s.

_Go-go dancing – femininity, individualism and anxiety in the 1960s_

Authors: Georgina Gregory
Page Start: 165

Mainly performed by young women at nightclubs and discotheques, go-go dancing was a high-energy, free-form, dance style of the 1960s. Go-go dancers were employed to entertain crowds and to create a ‘cool’ ambience, wearing very revealing outfits including mini dresses, short-fringed skirts, tank tops, tight shorts and calflength boots. The dance style soon reached mainstream media platforms such as the US television show Hullabaloo and ABC’s Shindig, where girls could be seen suspended in clear plastic cages above the dancefloor. Before the Second World War partner dancing was the norm and social dance typically involved close physical contact, often as part of traditional courtship ritual. Moreover, most of the earlier dances required men to take the lead and to physically guide their female partner. A striking characteristic of go-go was the fact that girls usually danced alone, sometimes placed on podiums and often separate from the crowd. In this respect, go-go dancing can be viewed as an extreme extension of a growing trend towards solo dancing. The article explains how go-go dancing could be seen as reflecting social changes occurring during the 1960s, a time when gradual loss of faith in traditional sources of social guidance – religion, government, marriage – saw the rise of greater individualism. Women’s growing emancipation and a move towards selfdirection were embodied by go-go dancers, whose free style movements and rejection of formal steps metaphorically embody the dilemma of a generation of women facing an uncertain future.

_Swinging regions: Young women and club culture in 1960s Manchester_

Authors: Katie Milestone
Page Start: 179

This article examines the opportunities for women to access a ‘Swinging Sixties’ life-style in a northern English city. The article is based upon interviews with women who actively participated in Manchester’s coffee club and discotheque scene in the mid-1960s. I explore the gendered dynamics of the cultural north/south divide and the ways in which girls in the regions carved out access to the style and experience of the ‘Swinging City’, dispelling the popular myth of this being exclusively attached to London. The interview data reveals high levels of creativity and agency and I examine the ways in which encounters with popular culture, notably night clubs, pop music and fashion, impacted on the women’s wider life choices and experiences. I also reflect on cinematic representations of young women in England in this period and the spatially motivated discourses pertinent to the case study.


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