For the love of pleasure : women, movies, and culture in turn-of-the-century Chicago /
Lauren Rabinovitz.
- New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c1998.
- iv, 233 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction One: Women and Sightseeing Two: Movies and Their Places of Amusement Conclusion Notes Selected Bibliography General Index Film Index
The period from the 1880s until the 1920s saw the making of a consumer society, the inception of the technological, economic, and social landscape in which we currently live. Cinema played a key role in the changing urban landscape. For working-class women, it became a refuge from the factory. For middle-class women, it presented a new language of sexual danger and pleasure. Women found greater freedom in big cities, entering the workforce in record numbers and moving about unchaperoned in public spaces. Turn-of-the-century Chicago surpassed even New York as a proving ground for pleasure and education, attracting women workers at three times the national rate. Using Chicago as a model, Lauren Rabinovitz analyzes the rich interplay among demographic, visual, historical, and theoretical materials of the period. She skillfully links cinema theory and women's studies for a fuller understanding of cultural history. She also demonstrates how cinema dramatically affected social conventions, ultimately shaping modern codes of masculinity and feminity.
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Motion pictures and women. Women in motion pictures. Mujeres en el cine Mujeres en la industria cinematográfica Women--Social conditions.--Illinois--Chicago Popular culture--History--Illinois--Chicago--19th century. Popular culture--History--Illinois--Chicago--20th century. Cultura popular --Historia --Chicago (Illinois) Culture in motion pictures. Cultura en el cine
Chicago (Ill.)--Social conditions. Chicago (Estados Unidos) --Condiciones sociales