Spinsters, Widows and Chars

Rezensionen / Stimmen

Mortimer surveys the representational avenues available to aging women in British cinema, noting both long-standing archetypes and investigating recent trends. [...] The excellent chapter "Hags, Witches, and the Magic Spinster" particularly shows the centrality of aging women to the boom in supernatural, horror, and occult films in postwar British cinema. Highly recommended. -- K. M. Flanagan, George Mason University * CHOICE * A fascinating, informative and eminently readable volume [...] bringing the spotlight to bear particularly on the range of types of female ageing characters evident in British cinema from the 1930s to the present day. [..] Vividly reminds us that among the preponderance of archetypes, ageing women have limitless stories to share if the industry will only do more to facilitate their telling. -- Deborah Jermyn * Journal of British Cinema and Television * Claire Mortimer's study emphasises the centrality of older women to the stories British cinema has told, despite the social marginalisation frequently visited upon them in real life. Examining familiar films with a fresh lens while also shining a light on lesser-known films, and spanning the 1930s to the present day, this book offers a spirited critical survey of the female figurations of age in British films, encompassing bluestockings and battleaxes, witches and widow-women, charladies and duchesses, spinsters and matriarchs. It also celebrates the powerful performances that brought sometimes stereotypically conceived characters to subversive life on the screen. Essential reading for scholars of both British cinema history and the cultural politics of femininity and ageing. -- Melanie Williams, University of East Anglia