Girls Will Be Boys
Cross-Dressed Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908-1934
Laura Horak
Laura Horak spent a decade scouring film archives worldwide, looking at American films made between 1908 and 1934, and what she discovered could revolutionize our understanding of gender roles in the early twentieth century. Questioning the assumption that cross-dressing women were automatically viewed as transgressive, she finds that these figures were popularly regarded as wholesome and regularly appeared onscreen in the 1910s, thus lending greater respectability to the fledgling film industry. Horak also explores how and why this perception of cross-dressed women began to change in the 1920s and early 1930s, examining how cinema played a pivotal part in the representation of lesbian identity.
Girls Will Be Boys excavates a rich history of gender-bending film roles, enabling readers to appreciate the wide array of masculinities that these actresses performed–from sentimental boyhood to rugged virility to gentlemanly refinement. Taking us on a guided tour through a treasure-trove of vintage images, Girls Will Be Boys helps us view the histories of gender, sexuality, and film through fresh eyes.
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Details
| ISBN | 9780813574820 |
| Genre | Film and Television; Performing Arts |
| Copyright Date | 2016 |
| Publication Date | 26-Feb-16 |
| Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
| Format | Trade Paperback |
| No. of Pages | 256 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | NotRated |
| Paper Type | Electronic Format Available |
| Subject | Lesbianism In Motion Pictures; Lesbians in motion pictures; Male Impersonators In Motion Pictures; Motion Pictures – History – United States; Sex Role In Motion Pictures |
| BookID | 4846 |
