Includes bibliographical references and index.

"This work focuses on the conflicted relationship between women and film as women move from the margins to the mainstream. It examines women's involvement with the film and television industry as actresses and directors, but also as critics and spectators. Marianne Kac-Vergne and Julie Assouly seek to offer new approaches to the study of gender by drawing together essays on different methodological and theoretical backgrounds like cosmopolitan theory, discourse analysis, celebrity and star studies, film history, reception studies and formalism. The chapters analyze independent, art-house, Hollywood and TV productions often in transnational contexts, shedding light on how definitions of femininity are culturally specific yet cross national, class and racial lines. The contributors include renowned scholars such as Yvonne Tasker, Celestino Deleyto, David Roche and Nicole Cloarec, as well as emerging yet well-published film scholars."-- Provided by publisher.