Abstract
Thomas J. Saunders examines World War I feature films in the postwar decade to explore cinematic representations of gender. He notes that when engaging with the literature on gender in relationship to World War I, questions of the war’s impact on women’s social and political roles and the wider destabilization of gender boundaries are central. After analyzing a broad selection of films from the postwar era, Saunders concludes that the women in these films are presented in complex, multidimensional ways. Saunders makes the case that the imagined possibilities for gender relations being explored in these films emphasize active, risk-taking, and rational images of women who are in charge of their lives, as well as their sexuality.
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Films
All Quiet on the Western Front. Directed by Lewis Milestone. USA, 1930.
Barbed Wire. Directed by Rowland V. Lee. USA, 1927.
The Big Parade. Directed by King Vidor. USA, 1925.
Das deutsche Mutterherz (The German Mother’s Heart). Directed by Géza von Bolváry. Germany, 1926.
Dawn. Directed by Herbert Wilcox. Britain, 1928.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Directed by Rex Ingram. USA, 1920.
Four Sons. Directed by John Ford. USA, 1928.
The Heart of Humanity. Directed by Allen Holubar. USA, 1918.
Hell’s Angels. Directed by Howard Hughes. USA, 1930.
Hotel Imperial. Directed by Mauritz Stiller. USA, 1927.
J’accuse. Directed by Abel Gance. France, 1919.
Niemandsland (No Man’s Land). Directed by Victor Trivas. Germany, 1931.
Verdun, visions d’histoire. Directed by Léon Poirier. France, 1928.
Westfront 1918. Directed by G.W. Pabst. Germany, 1930.
What Price Glory? Directed by Raoul Walsh. USA, 1927.
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Saunders, T.J. (2019). Women and Nation in Films of the Great War. In: Tholas, C., Goldie, J., Ritzenhoff, K. (eds) New Perspectives on the War Film. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23096-8_2
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