Ebook469 pages4 hours
Like a Natural Woman: Spectacular Female Performance in Classical Hollywood
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
Bathing beauty Esther Williams, bombshell Jane Russell, exotic Carmen Miranda, chanteuse Lena Horne, and talk-show fixture Zsa Zsa Gabor are rarely hailed as great actors or as naturalistic performers. Those terms of praise are given to male stars like Marlon Brando and James Dean, whose gritty dramas are seen as a departure from the glossy spectacles in which these stars appeared. Like a Natural Woman challenges those assumptions, revealing the skill and training that went into the work of these five actresses, who employed naturalistic performance techniques, both onscreen and off.
Bringing a fresh perspective to film history through the lens of performance studies, Kirsten Pullen explores the ways in which these actresses, who always appeared to be “playing themselves,” responded to the naturalist notion that actors should create authentic characters by drawing from their own lives. At the same time, she examines how Hollywood presented these female stars as sex objects, focusing on their spectacular bodies at the expense of believable characterization or narratives.
Pullen not only helps us appreciate what talented actresses these five women actually were, but also reveals how they sought to express themselves and maintain agency, even while meeting the demands of their directors, studios, families, and fans to perform certain feminine roles. Drawing from a rich collection of classic films, publicity materials, and studio archives, Like a Natural Woman lets us take a new look at both Hollywood acting techniques and the performance of femininity itself.
Bringing a fresh perspective to film history through the lens of performance studies, Kirsten Pullen explores the ways in which these actresses, who always appeared to be “playing themselves,” responded to the naturalist notion that actors should create authentic characters by drawing from their own lives. At the same time, she examines how Hollywood presented these female stars as sex objects, focusing on their spectacular bodies at the expense of believable characterization or narratives.
Pullen not only helps us appreciate what talented actresses these five women actually were, but also reveals how they sought to express themselves and maintain agency, even while meeting the demands of their directors, studios, families, and fans to perform certain feminine roles. Drawing from a rich collection of classic films, publicity materials, and studio archives, Like a Natural Woman lets us take a new look at both Hollywood acting techniques and the performance of femininity itself.
Related to Like a Natural Woman
Related ebooks
Their Own Best Creations: Women Writers in Postwar Television Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQueen of Vaudeville: The Story of Eva Tanguay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Kind of Woman: The Life and Career of Barbara Nichols Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiberating Hollywood: Women Directors and the Feminist Reform of 1970s American Cinema Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSilents of the Vamps: Bad Girls You Don't Know - But Should Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLucky Stars: Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStarring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarie Prevost Canadian Film Actress of Early Hollywood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorking in Hollywood: How the Studio System Turned Creativity into Labor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Lovers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow They Died: Best Actress Oscar Award Winners Vol. 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Veronica Lake: A Comprehensive Career Retrospective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCecil B. DeMille's Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Close-up on Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women I Have Dressed (and Undressed!) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDancing With a Star: The Maxine Barrat Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMom in the Movies: The Iconic Screen Mothers You Love (and a Few You Love to Hate) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go West, Young Women!: The Rise of Early Hollywood Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Atta Girl: Tales from a Life in the Trenches of Show Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen Filmmakers in Early Hollywood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScreen Saver: Private Stories of Public Hollywood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Social Science For You
Questions for Couples: 469 Thought-Provoking Conversation Starters for Connecting, Building Trust, and Rekindling Intimacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Like a Natural Woman
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Like a Natural Woman - Kirsten Pullen
2^ book_preview_excerpt.html }ےFr@6*v6ËQlޚd4vSm2= `!$.U|} z[VџK@VH3kkccL qp?~P78eSe[|w/jjʾ,&߅~M-60.kMmcߵam4gO.CC[_x*0|nnjU_w*vS|ݵ.̺/Smx˦n/
;ָ|ѭ
Zla(kr,wa(Cj
>Zm^64݄.^|Mo~oϣ7벺zX*[Ń?obu%W *:-|a,,/>+jz䎅O}Z65ֳKn(.4y{\w~No~˷z|MkSV|ۏ}Z=OM]1klf_uY7f.iO㩯w?xקA5vt_t¾cُy T~{T4Ms`O!*f]CeK[e?[IbArw}:\CFfqX7鈴pZj \e,kB9ZO-Ǐ-^@$&r-e=(S9urag?}-k>|㧏r(6a[X5\ܶI5WtS_܄5?ڏ7mGq6.^Ga8|5kiitͤ]y-Tx/o[VouWQ¥x;Q \f`=we_nA]tm!B]'ۖOt}yC_`k>mq#Swup*W, ـR1P,#9Į7k_.76
Kcn$vЖP}
kl
.ץn{WK({ܸ{LVM}-Y<
yƿp[gP}dMq&H"|&Ϡv\7r,pKa|[[
1()=nRZJ"(!m~ٖ+藗5Ǔ.WZITa-c
D1?{FgŮxaLayC/y
puju +Qѵ[ڝ ccۇ#mxz+a?1Pw 33Ӧ2`yyʾǁK ef#P
[CmkzcMy/4M]
i5`4KMs]?N:{#rWa҇P@Ckip~((DOzV<],o7XWdyڈ^ײq>
Iܡܕ?C9vL玗
fӑ! ֳH~[{>*{?<2]A_?O;a-fkr`DtVSdwf
Gl sS-6cF^۹T+ ?DS{@1>;r~{k| WqJ:˘`((G:nߜ fY(eLSñs 1b]1g(;hM䍋+F(=
2ZKܒ&OXu|0?fMhtfd>d,Q >·ta%څwЄǗ {JmLYf[q5q1!Ñgׁۘhޅwt|}8ZfjE+P*u/# }gPODU@0\0hKjMOBr+xm"U{b0m_/Հs+p}pwl-;C$i=7
@M'.b53_x6hk밹 g, pz|]Jjh5 uB͎Op툫yRң\vJzFLɸt\ )Úӄ
$!5
Y wmű۔Ne#a\w$8K!{hF
DiT^9i5
pw
"MLQIN(ub+7JpQhC4å-r1Kn =!ET7ԇ
%`1Q_
źo̦a2D¿i~W' \Ͷ"pu;AΠF*((Jc ¥ġ꽖um=)v<
RPw9'_*0镣FS:1tGIE,v;q}!^
arK:"=NB p^$|5'H~ZBG~Rŷ}Q3p2l*i8X" d:ᯅ`R!X