What If I Had Been the Hero? Investigating Women's Cinema

Sue Thornham's study explores issues in feminist filmmaking through an examination of a wide range of films by women filmmakers, ranging from the avant-garde to mainstream Hollywood, and from the 1970s to the present day, discussing directors including Sally Potter, Jane Campion, Julie Dash, Patricia Rozema and Lynne Ramsay.

SUE THORNHAM Professor and Head of the Department of Media and Film at the University of Sussex, UK. She is the author of Passionate Detachments: An Introduction to Feminist Film Theory (Edward Arnold, 1996), Feminist Theory and Cultural Studies (Edward Arnold 2001) and Women, Feminism and Media (Edinburgh University Press, 2007); the co-author, with Tony Purvis, of Television Drama: Theories and Identities (Palgrave 2005); the editor of Feminist Film Theory: A Reader (Edinburgh University Press 1999), and the co-editor, with Caroline Bassett and Paul Marris, of Media Studies: A Reader (Edinburgh University Press, 3rd edition 2009).  

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One QuestionsChapter One "WHAT IF I'D BEEN THE HERO?"Chapter Two WOMEN'S LIBERATION CINEMA?Chapter Three UNEXPLORED TERRITORIESPart Two ExplorationsChapter Four HEROES AND WRITERSChapter Five LANDSCAPES AND STORIESChapter Six BODIES AND PASSIONSConclusion: Unfinished BusinessPostscript NotesBibliography Index