Feminist Film Theory

Emily Poole

J320

3/9/2018

Final Paper

The Other Feminist Film Theory

During the mid-20th century, second and third wave feminism swept the nation. The feminist movements focused on combating the roles associated with being a woman and, in turn, lead them to critique how women are represented in media. The feminist movement emerged in media as Feminist Film theory, where the leading women of the mid-20th century analyzed representations of women in film(media). Unfortunately, the leading feminist film theorists where white women and their fight against gender oppression in media left out non-white women. The early feminist film theorists categorized race and gender as separate systems of oppression, and by doing so they universalized the white woman’s experience as representing the oppression experienced by all women. The problem with universalizing the white women 's oppression in media lies in its exclusion of non-white narratives and representations. The rise in feminist social movements in the mid-20th century led to feminist film theories, but early feminist film theories lacked an intersectional approach and, therefore, excluded the already marginalized group of non-white women.

The resurrection of feminist movements in the mid-20th century inspired feminists to carry their criticism outside the political sphere. In her book Issues in Feminist Film Criticism, Patricia Erens, a professor of film studies at the University of Hong Kong, wrote that “the rise of