Thesis-2007-White-open-access-no-images.pdf (10.08 MB)
Download fileFrom text to practice: rereading Laura Mulvey's 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema' towards a different history of the feminist avant-garde
thesis
posted on 2012-11-13, 14:15 authored by Mary C. WhiteThe thesis proposes that there have been a series of responses in visual
practice to Laura Mulvey's article 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'
(1975) from 1975 to 2000. As Mulvey's article was and still is an exemplary
text its contribution to film and visual theory is well documented, however, this
has overshadowed any contribution the article has made to visual practices. As Mulvey, at the time of writing the article, was an avant-garde film maker
the thesis examines how the article emerged from a context of visual practice.
The first chapter establishes the location of 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative
Cinema', broadly summarising its arguments and the commentaries that
proceeded from it, noting that many of these commentaries failed to
acknowledge its emergence from visual practices. The next chapter explores
the context of Mulvey's film-making practice, its content and location amongst
other film makers and groups contemporary with it. Chapter 3 looks at the
work of key feminist film makers during the 'visual pleasure' moment that
immediately followed the publication of Mulvey's article and re-states their
importance. The following chapter broadens the argument and examines two
visual practices that were not film-based, photo-text and tape-slide, but which
took up Mulvey's ideas strategically to explore language and sexual difference
in the 1980s. The final chapter looks at how questions of pleasure became
vital for a generation of black, gay and lesbian artists during the 1990s in
response to, and even in rejection of, Mulvey's earlier work. My aim is to highlight some key practices, mostly in the UK, exploring their
heterogeneous nature through context and location, to show a network of
practices where Mulvey's legacy can be seen through shared concerns and
approaches. This reconstitutes a history and argues that Mulvey's work is
part of a framework, which has a legacy to practice, as well as to theory.
History
School
- The Arts, English and Drama
Department
- Arts
Publisher
© Mary C. WhitePublication date
2007Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University. Please note that this open access version of the thesis does not contain images.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.497120Language
- en