Femininity in the Frame: Women and 1950s British Popular Cinema (Cinema and Society)

It's widely assumed that Britain in the 1950s experienced a return post-war to traditional gender roles and that popular cinema represented this era of the mythological "happy housewife" with boys-own tales of derring do. Melanie Bell challenges such received understandings with this sharply observant account of how British cinema engaged with femininity and women's roles during an important period of social and cultural change. In a lively and accessible manner, she shows that the period was marked by social unease and anxiety about gender roles and femininity through analyzing marginalized figures such as prostitutes, criminals and 'femmes fatales' and addressing themes of modernity, marriage and female friendship. This revealing book shows how many British films, like The Perfect Woman or Young Wives' Tale , expressed proto-feminist ideas and explored new forms of femininity in a manner that has not until now generally been recognized. It's widely assumed that Britain in the 1950s experienced a return to traditional gender roles. Popular cinema has typically been seen to represent this era through the dominant image of the'happy housewife'.'Femininity in the Frame'is a sharply observant account of how British cinema engaged with femininity and women's roles during this important period. Written in a lively and accessible manner, it challenges received understandings, arguing that the period was marked by social unease and anxiety about gender roles and femininity, with much British cinema producing ambiguous messages about feminine identities and the role of women. Through analysing marginalized figures, such as prostitutes, criminals and femmes fatales, and addressing central themes, notably sexuality, marriage and female friendship, Melanie Bell examines how British popular cinema imagined and constructed femininity in this era of rapid social and cultural change.She draws together sources ranging from official reports to film reviews, with case studies of films across genres, including'The Perfect Woman','Young Wives'Tale','The Weak and the Wicked'and'A Town Like Alice', to show how new ideas and understandings of femininity were seeping into the cultural imagery at this time. She demonstrates how such films expressed proto-feminist ideas and how they ultimately explored new forms of femininity in a manner that has not until now been recognised. The study challenges received understandings, arguing that the period was marked by social unease and anxiety about gender roles and femininity. British cinema produced ambiguous messages about feminine identities and the role of women. Marginalized figures, such as prostitutes, criminals and femmes fatales, are analysed and the themes of sexuality, marriage and female friendship addressed. The author examines how British popular cinema imagined and constructed femininity. She describes how new ideas and understandings of femininity entered the cultural imagery. Films with proto-feminist ideas are presented and recognized as important representations of new forms of femininity Bell challenges the received understandings of the 'happy housewife' of the 1950s through this study of British cinema. She shows that the period was marked by social unease and anxiety about gender roles through analysing marginalized figures such as prostitutes and 'femme fatales', and addressing themes of modernity Introduction : women and the 1950s Man-made women The British Femme Fetale The comedy-of-marriage film The female group film The figure of the prostitute Female film critics Conclusion : reconfiguring 1950s femininity.