Abstracts
Abstract
Picking up on recent feminist calls for an emphasis on social histories of cinema, the author argues for the importance of socio-historical contextualization in order to preserve feminist goals of critiquing epistemologies and power relations. Analyzing two early Edison films, she shows that the historical importance of each can be located in the ways they depict ideological confusion over female sexuality and mobility in changing urban spaces. Through socio-cultural contextualization, she further illuminates how Laughing Gas (Edison, 1907) depicts social tensions about the national rise of African American female domestics.
Résumé
Prenant en considération la récente mobilisation des féministes en faveur d’une histoire sociale du cinéma, l’auteure du présent article montre que la mise en contexte sociohistorique joue un rôle essentiel dans l’entreprise féministe visant à critiquer les approches épistémologiques et les relations de pouvoir. Une analyse de deux films d’Edison lui permet de montrer que leur importance historique réside en ceci qu’ils illustrent la confusion idéologique à propos de la sexualité féminine et de la mobilité des femmes dans un espace urbain en transformation. L’auteure met par ailleurs en lumière la façon dont Laughing Gas (Edison, 1907) dépeint les tensions sociales liées à l’émancipation des domestiques afro-américaines.
Appendices
Bibliographical references
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