Spinsters, widows and chars : the ageing woman in British film

Overlooked yet reassuringly familiar, the ageing woman has been central to the narrative landscape of British cinema. Historicising and contextualising enduring archetypes, this book establishes a taxonomy of female ageing in British cinema from the 1930s to the present day, encompassing bluestockings, battleaxes, witches, widow-women, duchesses, matriarchs and spinsters. These archetypes draw on well-established mythologies regarding ageing femininity. The prevalence of various iterations of female ageing is essential in understanding the nature of British cinema and how it developed to define itself under the shadow of Hollywood. The book examines the work of ageing British film stars including Ciceley Courtneidge, Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith and Sybil Thorndike, in performing female ageing. Centred on close textual analysis of a broad range of films from over 80 years of British cinema, the book casts a fresh light on both the familiar and lesser known, including Blithe Spirit (1945), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968), and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012). The films are considered within the context of the broader historical factors which impacted on ageing femininities, including the Second World War, the post-war settlement and the Welfare State, and looks at the implications for the women’s movement as a whole. Actresses like Maggie Smith, Cicely Courtneidge and Sybil Thorndike have established the enduring appeal of the ageing actress in British film. Historicising and contextualising this archetypal figure, this book establishes a taxonomy of female ageing in British cinema, from the 1930s to the present day. Arguing that the prevalence of various iterations of the character actress is essential in understanding the nature of British cinema, specifically in how it has developed to define itself against Hollywood, employing archetypes which draw on well-established mythologies regarding ageing femininities. The book centres on the analysis of a broad range of films, such as Blithe Spirit (1945), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968) and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), as well as the work of selected actresses, considering them within the context of the broader historical factors which impacted on ageing femininities, including the Second World War, the post-war settlement, the Welfare State, and the implications for the women’s movement as a whole. Spinsters, Widows and Chars Copyright Contents Figures Acknowledgments 1 Introduction: Ageing Women and British Cinema 2 Immobile Women? Ageing Women and Wartime Cinema 3 ‘It ain’t natural her not having a husband’: Spinsters and the Post-war Settlement 4 ‘Dangerous and unwholesome’: The Spinster Teacher 5 Battleaxes and Chars: Working-Class Matriarchs 6 ‘Not having it so good’: Widowhood, Anomalous Ageing and the Welfare State 7 ‘Infertile, domestically unnecessary, and jealous’: Hags, Witches and the Magic Spinster 8 ‘Senior-bait cinema’: Female Ageing in Contemporary British Film Bibliography Index Establishes the cultural and historical contexts for representations of female ageing in British film since the 1930s.