Hitler's Heroines: Stardom and Womanhood in Nazi Cinema (Culture and the Moving Image)
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
German film-goers flocked to see musicals and melodramas during the Nazi era. Although the Nazis seemed to require that every aspect of ordinary life advance the fascist project, even the most popular films depicted characters and desires that deviated from the politically correct ideal. Probing into the contradictory images of womanhood that surfaced in these films, Antje Ascheid shows how Nazi heroines negotiated the gender conflicts that confronted contemporary women.
The careers of Kristina Soderbaum, Lilian Harvey, and Zarah Leander speak to the Nazis' need to address and contain the "woman question," to redirect female subjectivity and desires to self sacrifice for the common good (i.e., national socialism). Hollywood's new women and glamorous dames were out; the German wife and mother were in. The roles and star personas assigned to these actresses, though intended to entertain the public in a politically conformist way, point to the difficulty of yoking popular culture to ideology.
From the Publisher
The brightest stars in fascist films
Hitler's Heroines: Stardom and Womanhood in Nazi Cinema (Culture and the Moving Image)
Hitler's Heroines: Stardom and Womanhood in Nazi Cinema (Culture and the Moving Image),Antje Ascheid,Temple University Press,156639984X,Film & Video - General,Film & Video - History & Criticism,Germany,History,Motion pictures,National socialism and motion,National socialism and motion pictures,Performing Arts,Performing Arts/Dance,Pop Arts / Pop Culture,Popular Culture - General,Women in motion pictures,Women's Studies - General
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