The American Girl Goes to War: Women and National Identity in U.S. Silent Film
During the 1910s, films about war often featured a female protagonist.  The films portrayed women as spies, cross—dressing soldiers, and athletic defenders of their homes—roles typically reserved for men and that contradicted gendered—expectations of home—front women waiting for their husbands, sons, and brothers to return from battle. The representation of American martial spirit—particularly in the form of heroines—has a rich history in film in the years just prior to the American entry into World War I. The American Girl Goes to War demonstrates the predominance of heroic female characters in in early narrative films about war from 1908 to 1919. American Girls were filled with the military spirit of their forefathers and became one of the major ways that American women’s changing political involvement, independence, and active natures were contained by and subsumed into pre—existing American ideologies.
 
1139186498
The American Girl Goes to War: Women and National Identity in U.S. Silent Film
During the 1910s, films about war often featured a female protagonist.  The films portrayed women as spies, cross—dressing soldiers, and athletic defenders of their homes—roles typically reserved for men and that contradicted gendered—expectations of home—front women waiting for their husbands, sons, and brothers to return from battle. The representation of American martial spirit—particularly in the form of heroines—has a rich history in film in the years just prior to the American entry into World War I. The American Girl Goes to War demonstrates the predominance of heroic female characters in in early narrative films about war from 1908 to 1919. American Girls were filled with the military spirit of their forefathers and became one of the major ways that American women’s changing political involvement, independence, and active natures were contained by and subsumed into pre—existing American ideologies.
 
32.95 In Stock
The American Girl Goes to War: Women and National Identity in U.S. Silent Film

The American Girl Goes to War: Women and National Identity in U.S. Silent Film

by Liz Clarke
The American Girl Goes to War: Women and National Identity in U.S. Silent Film

The American Girl Goes to War: Women and National Identity in U.S. Silent Film

by Liz Clarke

Paperback

$32.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    In stock. Ships in 6-10 days.
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

During the 1910s, films about war often featured a female protagonist.  The films portrayed women as spies, cross—dressing soldiers, and athletic defenders of their homes—roles typically reserved for men and that contradicted gendered—expectations of home—front women waiting for their husbands, sons, and brothers to return from battle. The representation of American martial spirit—particularly in the form of heroines—has a rich history in film in the years just prior to the American entry into World War I. The American Girl Goes to War demonstrates the predominance of heroic female characters in in early narrative films about war from 1908 to 1919. American Girls were filled with the military spirit of their forefathers and became one of the major ways that American women’s changing political involvement, independence, and active natures were contained by and subsumed into pre—existing American ideologies.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781978810150
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication date: 01/14/2022
Series: War Culture
Pages: 184
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

LIZ CLARKE is an assistant professor in communication, popular culture and film at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. She has published articles in Camera Obscura and Feminist Media Histories, as well as papers in edited anthologies New Perspectives on the War Film and Martial Culture, Silver Screen: War Movies and the Construction of American Identity.
 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Introduction: The American Girl Goes to War 1

1 American Girls and National Identity 17

2 Fighting Femininity on Home Soil in Civil War Films, 1908-1916 25

3 The American Revolution and Other Wars 48

4 Featuring Preparedness and Peace: America and the European War, Part I 66

5 From Serial Queens to Patriotic Heroines: America and the European War, Part II 84

6 The American Girl and Wartime Patriotism 101

Conclusion 114

Appendix 1 Civil War Films, 1908-1916 121

Appendix 2 World War I Films, 1914-1919 131

Additional Filmography 139

Acknowledgments 141

Notes 143

Selected Bibliography 159

Index 165

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews