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The Tradition of Femininity: Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in 1950s French Cinema

Parson, Julie

Abstract Details

2011, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, French and Italian.
French films in the 1950s that attempted to compete with Hollywood films were labeled as being a part of what was called the Tradition of Quality. These films have been consistently saddled with the negative reputation of being substandard and tedious, thanks to François Truffaut’s condemnation of it in 1954. Since that time, scholars have blindly and systematically ignored film of the period. While some scholars have begun to take a second look at cinema made during this period, a comprehensive study of filmic adaptations, which bear the brunt of the negative reputation, has not been undertaken. My dissertation seeks to open up a dialogue reconsidering the value of Tradition of Quality adaptations. I focus my examination on the portrayal of female gender and sexuality on the French film screen during this time. My goal is to determine how the cinematic image of women reflected the complexities of their negotiation of the modern role in contemporary French culture. I examine French films from the fifteen-year period following World War II and focus on three aspects of the representation of female gender and sexuality. First, I study how gender and sexuality play out narratively and visually in four of Jacqueline Audry’s films, Olivia (1951), Huis clos (1954), La Garçonne (1957), and Le Secret du chevalier d’Eon (1959), and I contend that despite limits placed on the way that female directors were received and conceived of at the time, Jacqueline Audry was an auteur in her own right. Her oeuvre is replete with affirming images of sexually desiring female agents who finish well in the end. I also examine how women’s representation in Carné’s Thérèse Raquin (1953) and Autant-Lara’s Gervaise (1956), as cinematic readings of two of Emile Zola’s novels, portray their female characters in an unexpectedly favorable light. Second, I examine the star persona of Edwige Feuillère and show how her image runs counter to expected objectified images of women in the 1950s. I show how her image is interrelated with the narratives and images of female gender and sexuality and that her star persona emerges as an agent who challenges social and cultural limits for women at the time. Finally, I examine how the complex system of cultural and viewer reception was intertwined with these narratives, images and stars at the time. My research reveals that each of these aspects evinces contradictions between the implications of these limits and the changing realities of the feminine domain as it evolved in the 50s.
Judith Mayne, PhD (Advisor)
Willging Jennifer, PhD (Committee Member)
Renga Dana, PhD (Committee Member)
Gimbert Belinda, PhD (Other)

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Parson, J. (2011). The Tradition of Femininity: Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in 1950s French Cinema [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313583878

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Parson, Julie. The Tradition of Femininity: Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in 1950s French Cinema. 2011. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313583878.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Parson, Julie. "The Tradition of Femininity: Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in 1950s French Cinema." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313583878

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)