A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema PDF
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AFeministReaderinEarlyCinema ACameraObscurabook A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema . DukeUniversityPress Durham&London ©DukeUniversityPress Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper(cid:3) DesignedbyC.H.Westmoreland TypesetinGranjonwithBodonidisplay byTsengInformationSystems,Inc. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData appearonthelastprintedpageofthisbook. An earlier version of Siobhan B. Somerville’s essay ‘‘The QueerCareerofJimCrow:RacialandSexualTransforma- tioninAFloridaEnchantment’’appearedinherbookQueer- ingtheColorLine:RaceandtheInventionofHomosexuality in American Culture (), published by Duke University Press. An earlier version of Sumiko Higashi’s essay ‘‘The New Woman and Consumer Culture: Cecil B. DeMille’s Sex Comedies’’appearedinherbookCecilB.DeMilleandAmeri- canCulture:TheSilentEra().ItappearscourtesyofUni- versityofCaliforniaPress. Gaylyn Studlar retains copyright to her essay ‘‘Oh ‘Doll Divine’: Mary Pickford, Masquerade, and the Pedophilic Gaze.’’ Mary Anne Doane’s essay ‘‘Technology’s Body: Cinematic VisioninModernity’’originallyappearedinthejournaldif- ferences.ItappearscourtesyofIndianaUniversityPress. CatherineRussell’sessay‘‘ParallaxHistoriography:TheFlâ- neuseasCyberfeminist’’originallyappearedinScope:AnOn- line Journal of Film Studies [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ film/journal/]. It appears courtesy of the Institute of Film Studies,UniversityofNottingham. EssaysbyDianeNegra,JenniferM.Bean,LucyFischer,Gay- lynStudlar,andZhangZhenoriginallyappearedinthejour- nal Camera Obscura, Special Issue No. , ‘‘Early Women Stars,’’publishedJanuarybyDukeUniversityPress. Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction:TowardaFeministHistoriographyofEarlyCinema . I ReflectingFilmAuthorship CircuitsofMemoryandHistory:TheMemoirsofAliceGuy-Blaché Nazimova’sVeils:SalomeattheIntersectionofFilmHistories OfCabbagesandAuthors . ReevaluatingFootnotes:WomenDirectorsoftheSilentEra II WaysofLooking TheGenderofEmpire:AmericanModernity,Masculinity,and Edison’sWarActualities MakingEndsMeet:‘‘WelfareFilms’’andthePoliticsofConsump- tionduringtheProgressiveEra IrmaVep,VampintheCity:MappingtheCriminalFemininein EarlyFrenchSerials . TheFlapperFilm:Comedy,Dance,andJazzAgeKinaesthetics III CulturalInversions TheQueerCareerofJimCrow:RacialandSexualTransformation inAFloridaEnchantment . TakingPrecautions,orRegulatingEarlyBirth-ControlFilms TheNewWomanandConsumerCulture:CecilB.DeMille’sSex Comedies ‘‘SoRealastoSeemLikeLifeItself’’:ThePhotoplayFictionofAdela RogersSt.Johns IV PerformingBodies Oh,‘‘DollDivine’’:MaryPickford,Masquerade,andthePedophilic Gaze ImmigrantStardominImperialAmerica:PolaNegriandtheProblem ofTypology TechnologiesofEarlyStardomandtheExtraordinaryBody . FemininityinFlight:AndrogynyandGynandryinEarlySilentItalian Cinema GretaGarboandSilentCinema:TheActressasArtDecoIcon V TheProblemwithPeriodization AnAmorousHistoryoftheSilverScreen:TheActressasVernacular EmbodimentinEarlyChineseFilmCulture Technology’sBody:CinematicVisioninModernity ParallaxHistoriography:TheFlâneuseasCyberfeminist Contributors Index vi Acknowledgments WeoweimmeasurablethankstoKenWissoker,whosupportedthisproject from the first and who responded with timely wisdom to even the most mundaneofourquestionsateverystepoftheway.Theinvitationtoedita specialissueofCameraObscuraon‘‘EarlyWomenStars’’providedboththe materialbasisandrenewedinspirationforthisvolume;weareindebtedto the Camera Obscura editorial collective, especially Patricia White, for af- fordingusthisopportunity.OurexchangewiththeCameraObscuraoffice wasfacilitatedinnosmallwaybythegraciousandefficienteffortsofJeanne ScheperandbytheeditorialassistanceofEmilyDavisandChristyCan- nariato. Shelley McGinnis, Manasi Sapre, and Cristobal Borges at the Univer- sity of North Texas provided research assistance during the life span of thisproject,andFraukePlummerattheUniversityofWashingtoncoordi- nated editorial exchange across a number of continents with grace and goodcheer.AUniversityofNorthTexasCollegeofArtsandSciencesFac- ultyResearchGrantprovidedfundingtofacilitateameetingfortheedi- tors at an early stage of planning. Gary Handwerk and Divisional Dean MichaelHalleranattheUniversityofWashingtonsuppliedgenerousma- terialandinspirationalsupportthatsustainedthisproject’sdevelopment throughthepastthreeyearsandmadeitscompletionpossible.ForJessica Burstein’seditorialsavvyandguidance,sharedwithouthesitation,weare especiallygrateful. That this volume would not have been possible without the expertise of its contributors is self-evident. Less apparent is the degree to which they responded with grace under pressure and sustained an unwavering commitment to the project at every turn. We could not have asked for amoreenergizingcommunitywithwhichtodevelop—anddebate—the ideaspresentedhere. . Introduction TowardaFeministHistoriographyofEarlyCinema Feminism...mustresisttheimpulsetoreproduceonlywhat itthinksitalreadyknows;itmustchallengethecompulsion 1 torepeat.—RobynWiegman Historicalcoherenceandgrandnarrativesarenowriddled notonlybyholes,gaps,andomissionsinourhistorical knowledgethatoncewemighthavetriedtocoveroverorfill in,buttheyarealsoriddledbythequestionsandinvestments 2 ofpastandpresentdesire.—VivianSobchack The early years of the twenty-first century are a critical period for femi- nistreflectiononthecinemaoftheearlytwentiethcentury.Theaccessto historicalmaterialsfosteredbythedigitalage,theincreasedreadinessfor collaborationamongthemembersoftheFédérationInternationaledesAr- chivesduFilm(),andtherecentescalationinthepublicsphereofa qualitatively new interest in silent cinema has made visible the remark- able number of roles played by early women producers, directors, stars, and writers in the formation of the young industry. The rush to distrib- utevideosfeaturing‘‘FirstMovieLadies’’hasbeenmatchedbyaspateof 3 cable-channeldocumentariesonwomenandearlycinema. Themonth- longcelebrationof‘‘WomenFilmPioneers’’onTurnerClassicMoviesin August is a notable signpost of this initiative, not only for the bol- steredvisibilityofpreviouslyobscureearlyfilmstothegeneralpopulation, butalsofortheprominentpositionallottedtofeministscholarslikeJane GainesandAlisonMcMahan,whowereincludedasintroductoryandre- 4 searchcommentators,onprime-timetelevision. Themergerofacademic andpublicvenuesalsoshapedthefestivalattheAmericanMuseumofthe MovingImageinMay,whichfeaturedthecareersofMabelNormand, FedericaMaas,NellShipman,andHelenGardner,aswellastwoground- breakinginternationalconferenceson‘‘GenderandSilentCinema’’—the
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