Soldiers' Stories

Military Women in Cinema and Television since World War II

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Performing Arts, Television, History & Criticism, Film
Cover of the book Soldiers' Stories by Yvonne Tasker, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Yvonne Tasker ISBN: 9780822393351
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: August 8, 2011
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Yvonne Tasker
ISBN: 9780822393351
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: August 8, 2011
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

From Skirts Ahoy! to M*A*S*H, Private Benjamin, G.I. Jane, and JAG, films and television shows have grappled with the notion that military women are contradictory figures, unable to be both effective soldiers and appropriately feminine. In Soldiers’ Stories, Yvonne Tasker traces this perceived paradox across genres including musicals, screwball comedies, and action thrillers. She explains how, during the Second World War, women were portrayed as auxiliaries, temporary necessities of “total war.” Later, nursing, with its connotations of feminine care, offered a solution to the “gender problem.” From the 1940s through the 1970s, musicals, romances, and comedies exploited the humorous potential of the gender role reversal that the military woman was taken to represent. Since the 1970s, female soldiers have appeared most often in thrillers and legal and crime dramas, cast as isolated figures, sometimes victimized and sometimes heroic. Soldiers’ Stories is a comprehensive analysis of representations of military women in film and TV since the 1940s. Throughout, Tasker relates female soldiers’ provocative presence to contemporaneous political and cultural debates and to the ways that women’s labor and bodies are understood and valued.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From Skirts Ahoy! to M*A*S*H, Private Benjamin, G.I. Jane, and JAG, films and television shows have grappled with the notion that military women are contradictory figures, unable to be both effective soldiers and appropriately feminine. In Soldiers’ Stories, Yvonne Tasker traces this perceived paradox across genres including musicals, screwball comedies, and action thrillers. She explains how, during the Second World War, women were portrayed as auxiliaries, temporary necessities of “total war.” Later, nursing, with its connotations of feminine care, offered a solution to the “gender problem.” From the 1940s through the 1970s, musicals, romances, and comedies exploited the humorous potential of the gender role reversal that the military woman was taken to represent. Since the 1970s, female soldiers have appeared most often in thrillers and legal and crime dramas, cast as isolated figures, sometimes victimized and sometimes heroic. Soldiers’ Stories is a comprehensive analysis of representations of military women in film and TV since the 1940s. Throughout, Tasker relates female soldiers’ provocative presence to contemporaneous political and cultural debates and to the ways that women’s labor and bodies are understood and valued.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book The Power at the End of the Economy by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book Buena Vista in the Club by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book Animals and Women by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book No Apocalypse, No Integration by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book National History and the World of Nations by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book Work! by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book The Magic of Concepts by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book The Cinema of Economic Miracles by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book Genocide by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book Nothing Happens by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book New Masters, New Servants by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book The Journals of Charles W. Chesnutt by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book Brilliant Imperfection by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book The Promise of Infrastructure by Yvonne Tasker
Cover of the book Rotten States? by Yvonne Tasker
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy