Postfeminist whiteness : : problematising melancholic burden in contemporary Hollywood / / Kendra Marston.

• Superior document: Edinburgh scholarship online
• VerfasserIn: Marston, Kendra,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Edinburgh scholarship online.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (232 pages) :; illustrations
• Notes: Previously issued in print: 2018.

In the first extended study into the politics of whiteness inherent within postfeminist cinema, Kendra Marston interrogates representations of melancholic white femininity in contemporary Hollywood cinema, arguing that the 'melancholic white woman' serves as a vehicle through which to explore the excesses of late capitalism and a crisis of faith in the American dream. This figure may be idealised or scapegoated within these films, yet strategic performances of gendered melancholia may produce benefits for white female directors and stars disadvantaged within a patriarchal industry. Examining film genres including the tourist romance, the fantasy film and the psychological thriller, the book also contains case studies of films like 'The Virgin Suicides,' 'Blue Jasmine,' 'Gone Girl' and 'The Girl on the Train.'

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 The World Is Her Oyster: Negotiating Contemporary White Womanhood in Hollywood’s Tourist Spaces -- 2 ‘Hoist the Colours!’ Framing Feminism through Charismatic White Leadership in the Fantasy Blockbuster -- 3 Neoliberalism, Female Agency and Conspicuous Consumption as Tragic Flaw in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine -- 4 Paranoid Attachments to Suburban Dreams: Pathological Femininity in Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train -- 5 Aristocratic Whiteness, Body Trauma and the Market Logic of Melancholia in Black Swan -- 6 Sofia Coppola’s Melancholic Aesthetic: Vanishing Femininity in an Object-oriented World -- Conclusion: Melancholic White Femininity, Cultural Resonance and the Shifting Politics of Representation -- Bibliography -- Filmography -- Index