This insightful study places African American women's stardom in historical and industrial contexts by examining the star personae of five African American women: Dorothy Dandridge, Pam Grier, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Halle Berry. Interpreting each woman's celebrity as predicated on a brand of charismatic authority, Mia Mask shows how these female stars have ultimately complicated the conventional discursive practices through which blackness and womanhood have been represented in commercial cinema, independent film, and network television. Mask examines the function of these stars in seminal yet underanalyzed films. She considers Dandridge's status as a sexual commodity in films such as Tamango, revealing the contradictory discourses regarding race and sexuality in segregation-era American culture. Grier's feminist-camp performances in sexploitation pictures Women in Cages and The Big Doll House and her subsequent blaxploitation vehicles Coffy and Foxy Brown highlight a similar tension between representing African American women as both objectified stereotypes and powerful, self-defining icons. Mask reads Goldberg's transforming habits in Sister Act and The Associate as representative of her unruly comedic routines, while Winfrey's daily television performance as self-made, self-help guru echoes Horatio Alger narratives of success. Finally, Mask analyzes Berry's meteoric success by acknowledging the ways in which Dandridge's career made Berry's possible.

Hollywood Divas, Indie Queens, and TV Heroines offers an entertaining and critical look at the representation of women in recent movies. Written in a refreshingly accessible style, the book analyzes over thirty box-office hits. The authors explore the screen personae of top stars such as Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan, and Renée Zellweger, as well as independent movie queens like Parker Posey and TV heroines like Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A must-read book for all film buffs who are tired of the mixed gender messages of mainstream culture.

Whether it was Lucy and Ethel (Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance) or Eve Arden as Miss Brooks, Gale Storm as her dad's "little" Margie, always interfering but with the best of intentions, or the more modern Bea Arthur as Maude, flaunting the conventions of how a woman was supposed to behave, we all have our favorite funny ladies who brought us laughter every week, and, for a half-hour at least, took us away from our daily problems. Classic TV expert Michael Karol, in a series of original essays, examines the roles these Sitcom Queens played on TV, and how they became the beloved TV icons of generation after generation of TV fans. With a sitcom timeline and a Top 10!

2020 Best Early Career Research Monograph, Monash University Malaysia Damsels and Divas investigates the meanings of Europeanness in Hollywood during the 1920s by charting professional trajectories of three movie stars: Pola Negri, Vilma Bánky and Jetta Goudal. It combines the investigation of American fan magazines with the analysis of studio documents, and the examination of the narratives of their films, to develop a thorough understanding of the ways in which Negri, Bánky and Goudal were understood within the realm of their contemporary American culture. This discussion places their star personae in the context of whiteness, femininity and Americanization. Every age has its heroines, and they reveal a lot about prevailing attitudes towards women in their respective eras. In the United States, where the stories of rags-to-riches were especially potent, stars could offer models of successful cultural integration.

From the birth of the silver screen, "It Girls" laid down a sequined trail of self-indulgence and scandalous bad behavior. "Hollywood Divas" traces that glittering path from legendary icons to today's most high-maintenance celebrities of film and TV. 70 photos.

If you've ever wondered how to get the life you know you deserve, look no further. Award-winning producer and actress, Jacqueline Journey, delivers the ultimate and comprehensive guide to confidence, courage & style. The Diva's in the Details teaches you how to overcome what's holding you back, step up your game and go after the life you've always wanted! Featuring Oscar winners, Grammy winners, billionaires, icons and legends, Jacqueline Journey reveals the secrets of those who have mastered the details that can change your life. Includes an amazing Bonus Resource section with essential tips on Body Language, Manners & Etiquette, First Impression Fundamentals, Press, Pick-Me-Ups and more!

Sex Scene suggests that what we have come to understand as the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s was actually a media revolution. In lively essays, the contributors examine a range of mass media—film and television, recorded sound, and publishing—that provide evidence of the circulation of sex in the public sphere, from the mainstream to the fringe. They discuss art films such as I am Curious (Yellow), mainstream movies including Midnight Cowboy, sexploitation films such as Mantis in Lace, the emergence of erotic film festivals and of gay pornography, the use of multimedia in sex education, and the sexual innuendo of The Love Boat. Scholars of cultural studies, history, and media studies, the contributors bring shared concerns to their diverse topics. They highlight the increasingly fluid divide between public and private, the rise of consumer and therapeutic cultures, and the relationship between identity politics and individual rights. The provocative surveys and case studies in this nuanced cultural history reframe the "sexual revolution" as the mass sexualization of our mediated world. Contributors. Joseph Lam Duong, Jeffrey Escoffier, Kevin M. Flanagan, Elena Gorfinkel, Raymond J. Haberski Jr., Joan Hawkins, Kevin Heffernan, Eithne Johnson, Arthur Knight, Elana Levine, Christie Milliken, Eric Schaefer, Jeffrey Sconce, Jacob Smith, Leigh Ann Wheeler, Linda Williams

This uniquely engaging and lively textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to international film, from the golden age of European cinema to the contemporary blockbusters of India and Asia, and the post World War II emergence of global film culture. Offers an overview of film culture in European countries such as France, Sweden and Spain, as well as Africa, Hong Kong, China, and India, in a clear and conversational style to engage the student reader Provides a detailed exploration of the impact of globalization on international cinema Includes a comprehensive companion website (www.wiley.com/go/worldonfilm) with an expansive gallery of film stills also found in the text, plus access to sample syllabi for faculty and a detailed FAQ Addresses the differences in visual and narrative strategies between Hollywood-influenced movies and international cinema Highlights key words within the text and provides a comprehensive glossary of critical vocabulary for film studies Each chapter includes in-depth case studies of individual films and directors, cultural and historical context, selected filmographies, and ideas for projects, essays, and further research

This book tells all about a lost, authentically legendary species: the divas. They were the first movie stars before Pickford and Garbo, there was Geraldine Farrar, Lina Cavalieri, and Mary Garden. They were the most stunning opera singers, their personalities perhaps even bigger than their voices. Their success and their lives filled the gossip columns. Their fans loved them, grand dukes covered them in jewels. They represented both the splendorous excesses of an era of elegance and luxury, and its swan's song. There is almost nothing that survives of them today. Thankfully, their image remains and reveals all. Along with unpublished pictures of the greatest divas of this century, rediscover their voices in the accompanying CD produced specially for this publication. 70 b/w & colour illustrations