Star gazing : Hollywood cinema and female spectatorship

Star-Gazing puts female spectators into theories of spectatorship. Combining film theory with a body of ethnographic research, Jackie Stacey investigates the place of movie stars - Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Deanna Durbin - in women's memories of wartime and post-war Britain, when cinema-going was at an all-time high. Demonstrating the importance of cultural and national location, Stacey focuses on three key processes of spectatorship - escapism, identification and consumption. Her study challenges the universalism of the psychoanalytic approach which has dominated the feminist agenda within film studies for two decades, and gives a new direction to questions of popular culture, female pleasure and female desire

In Star Gazing, Jackie Stacey puts the female back into the spectator, or the girl back into girl-watching. Combining film theory with a rich body of ethnographic research, the book investigates how women viewews understood Hollywood stars in the 1940s and 50s. Stacey's study challenges the universality of psychoanalytic theories of female spectatorship, prevalent within film studies for the past 20 years.

Drawing on letters and questionnaires from over 300 filmgoers, the author investigates the significance of particular Holywood stars in women's memories of wartime and postwar Britain. Among the stars discussed by Stacey and her subjects are Doris Day, Joan Craford, Betty Grable, Ava Gardner, Deanna Durbin, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Jennifer Jones and Dorothy L'Amour.

Three key processes of spectatorship--escapism, identification and consumption--are explored in terms of their multiple and changing meanings for women spectators of the time. Stacey's work demonstrates the importance of cultural and national location for the meanings of female spectatorship, redirecting questions of popular culture and female desire.

In a historical investigation of the pleasures of cinema, Star Gazing puts female spectators back into theories of spectatorship. Combining film theory with a rich body of ethnographic research, Jackie Stacey investigates how female spectators understood Hollywood stars in the 1940's and 1950's. Her study challenges the universalism of psychoanalytic theories of female spectatorship which have dominated the feminist agenda within film studies for over two decades. Drawing on letters and questionnaires from over three hundred keen cinema-goers, Stacey investigates the significance of certain Hollywood stars in women's memories of wartime and postwar Britain. Three key processes of spectatorship - escapism, identification and consumption - are explored in detail in terms of their multiple and changing meanings for female spectators at this time. Star Gazing demonstrates the importance of cultural and national location for the meanings of female spectatorship, giving a new direction to questions of popular culture and female desire. 1. How Do I Look? -- 2. From The Male Gaze To The Female Spectator -- 3. The Lost Audience: Researching Cinema History And The History Of The Research -- 4. Hollywood Cinema -- The Great Escape -- 5. Feminine Fascinations: A Question Of Identification? -- 6. With Stars In Their Eyes: Female Spectators And The Paradoxes Of Consumption -- 7. Relocating Female Spectatorship -- Appendix 1 Letter Published In Woman's Realm And Woman's Weekly -- Appendix 2 Questionnaire -- Appendix 3 Readers' Profiles By Age And Class: Woman's Realm And Woman's Weekly. Jackie Stacey. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 264-274) And Index. Content: 1. How Do I Look? -- 2. From the Male Gaze to the Female Spectator -- 3. The Lost Audience: Researching Cinema History and the History of the Research -- 4. Hollywood Cinema -- The Great Escape -- 5. Feminine Fascinations: A Question of Identification? -- 6. With Stars in Their Eyes: Female Spectators and the Paradoxes of Consumption -- 7. Relocating Female Spectatorship -- Appendix 1 Letter published in Woman's Realm and Woman's Weekly -- Appendix 2 Questionnaire -- Appendix 3 Readers' profiles by age and class: Woman's Realm and Woman's Weekly. Combining film theory with a rich body of ethnographic research, Stacey applies theories of spectatorship to female spectators. Stacey's research analyses what memories female movie goers have of stars Bette Davis and Lauren Bacall.