This thesis deals with the image of the prostitute in four films: Klute (1971) Pretty Baby (1978) McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1972) and American Gigolo (1980). It includes a review of the image of the prostitute in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These earlier images are compared and contrasted with the images presented in the four films and used to analyze how women are represented through the role of the prostitute in Klute, Pretty Baby and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. American Gigolo presents male prostitution in a manner conventional to prostitution, but unconventional in terms of representing men. American Gigolo provides a contrast for the three other films in terms of both gender and the image of the prostitute.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 310-341).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, May, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study is to frame the cinematic male prostitute as a "fallen angel" to demonstrate that the evolution of the cinematic hustler has paralleled historicized ideological definitions of male homosexuality. Because cultural understandings of male homosexuality frequently reflect Judeo-Christian ideological significations of sin and corruption, the term "fallen angel" is utilized to describe the hustler as a figure who has also succumbed to sin due to his sexual involvement with other men. This study constructs an epochal analysis of eight films that explores the confluence of the social understanding of homosexuality with the cinematic image of the hustler from the mid 1960s through the present. In doing so, this study shows that the image of the cinematic hustler is intricately tied to the image of the male homosexual in material cultures and eras that produce them. A filmography is included.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 177 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-177). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center