This thesis explores the changing relationship of power, technology, and gender in recent Hollywood films. Beginning with ideas of gender "truths" in philosophical thought, I posit that the representation of violence is inseparable from the notion of gender, and that ideas of gender are always historically specific. / I examine masculinity and aggression in Vietnam films, arguing that masculinity must struggle to renew its privilege and its illusion of purity. / Finally, I examine combat roles for women where the heroines have accessed "male" technology to become subjects of the social act. I conclude that these representations offer a possible female subjectivity and resistance to patriarchal assimilation only when the ambivalence and fragility of that subjectivity is recognized.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.56771 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Ward, Katherine |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of English.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001317011, proquestno: AAIMM80493, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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