tara brabazon

8/10/2019 Tara Brabazon

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development o$ challenging 2lm and popular culture& !hat are the post=(a3

discourses o$ noteD

Thank$ully postgraduate education has improved since these celebrity death match

seminars o$ the early 6778s) Postmodern mantras and slogans& !ithout content or

argument& no longer cut the imported Belgian mustard) Film theorists in particular

are producing $ascinating !ork& 2nally moving beyond endless decontextualised

re$erences to Laura %ulvey and a %edusian vision) %any o$ us remember the

decade !here < it seemed < every article on 2lm had the %andatory %ulvey %oment

%%%C) .hile intellectual generosity to great scholars is incredibly important& it can

also create unproductive insularity)

Barbara reed has remained one o$ the succinct& brilliant and evocative theorists o$

2lm) The #ustralian #cademy is $ortunate to have her in our number) #n #ssociate

Pro$essor o$ inema *tudies at the niversity o$ %elbourne& she understands that

interdisciplinarity requires rigour& punch& passion and humour) /er book Pandora's

Box& !hich is part o$ a series o$ books on 2lm and media created by the niversity's

inema *tudies Programme& brings together six o$ her essays) From introducing

$eminist 2lm theory& she explores the horror genre and the cinematic relationship

bet!een race and gender& then sits on the psychoanalytic couch& dances !ith the

postmodern and enters the mauve !edge o$ queer cinema) *he a-rms $rom her

introduction that 2lm theory remains a site o$ intense argument& !ith analytical

positions opening a Pandora's box o$ debate& con;ecture and opinion) Through all

her experience& she recognises that >the best kind o$ 2lm theory is 9uid andpluralistic& open to a range o$ positions? p) viiiC) This book embodies her goal) 0t is a

post=67 book < ackno!ledging the ;ourney o$ French theories and !here they

have taken 2lm and its critics)

%oving beyond auteur and genre studies& reed enacts repair !ork to 2lm studies&

utilising theories that reveal the gaps and absences in earlier approaches) Each

chapter $eatures a plethora o$ 2lmic texts and a !ell=modulated presentation o$ a

theoretical approach) 0t is not a book !ith an ideological agenda& spruiking (eleu"e

over Foucault& or risteva over Butler) .hat is most impressive is ho! each essaystands on its o!n < use$ully $or undergraduate students < yet the book builds into an

overarching survey o$ 2lm theory $or more experienced readers and theorists) /er

!riting is clean& concise and open) The re$erence lists are insight$ul and pointed) 0

!ould have even s!apped my E)P) Thompson to obtain such a book in the early

6778s) But this book is the result o$ detailed teaching& scholarship& experience and

thought that !as not available a decade ago) +ane ampion has helped us

understand and shi$t $eminist 2lm theory during that time) /er 0n the ut A88GC $or


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example& cuts up an easy determination o$ good and bad sex and violence) .ith the

bene2t o$ this insight& reed is able to place Laura %ulvey and the British ;ournal

*creen into context& politically and theoretically) 0n reprinting her $amous essay on

>The %onstrous=Feminine?& that 2rst appeared in a 67 edition o$ *creen& she

allo!s us to read again that $amous study o$ #lien and >monstrous !ombs? p) HHC)

This chapter is one o$ the 2nest applications o$ risteva's theory o$ ab;ection& !hich!orks !ell !ith the horror genre)

reed also $orges the contextual links bet!een psychoanalysis and cinema& both

having origins in the late 67th century) *he con2rmed that !hile theorists love

applying Freud to 2lm& actually >the cinema may !ell have in9uenced

psychoanalysis? p) 8C) By tracing the >long and uneven? p) 8C tra;ectory o$

psychoanalytic 2lm criticism& she is able to a-rm the startling importance o$ +udith

Butler in moving debates and theorists out o$ the com$ort couch o$ the 1edipal

tra;ectory)

*imilarly $or reed& queer theory and 2lm go together like ,ock /udson and (oris

(ay) This relationship is more than < to poach B) ,uby ,ich's phrase < homo pomo)

The strange masculinity o$ #rnold *ch!ar"enegger < even be$ore he !as governor

o$ ali$ornia < demands an analytical snigger) ,ussell ro!e's movement $rom

sensitive gay male in The *um o$ s evin (o!ling I 3eo@ Burton& 677HC to

esteemed naval hero in %aster and ommander: The Far *ide o$ the .orld Peter

.eir& A88GC also requires some considered attention) reed deploys %ichel Foucault

to such texts& a!are o$ the paradoxes in the paradigm) *he provides a queer eyemakeover $or the straight=acting& mullet=!earing 2lm theorist)

#ll essays in Pandora's Box have appeared previously in ;ournals) %ost are re$ramed

and updated) 0 $ound it both important and com$orting to have all these signi2cant

!orks bound together $or re$erence and contemplation) 0t is a use$ul book: in my

current cohort o$ postgraduates 0 kno! o$ three !ho immediately require this

in;ection o$ stylistic 9air and theoretical rigour) 0n opening the box o$ 2lm theory&

reed has con2rmed her status as the critic !ho can not only chatter on /itchcock

around the cheeseboard !ith the slo! $oodies& but chop crisp politics into the 2lmstudies stir $ry)

J Tara Braba"on& +uly A88H

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