The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen - Softcover

Ursini, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879103272 ISBN 13: 9780879103279

Publisher: Limelight Editions, 2006

Synopsis

The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen documents the public's seemingly insatiable fascination with the warrior woman archetype in film and on television. The book examines the cautious beginnings of new roles for women in the late fifties, the rapid development of female action leads during the burgeoning second-wave feminist movement in the late sixties and seventies, and the present-day onslaught of female action characters now leaping from page to screen. The book itself is organized into chapters that group women warriors into sub-genres, e.g., classic Amazons like Xena Warrior Princess and the women of the Conan films; superheroes and their archenemies such as Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Catwoman; revenge films such as the Kill Bill movies; Sexploitation and Blaxploitation films such as Coffy and the Ilsa trilogy; Hong Kong cinema and warriors like Angela Mao, Cynthia Rothrock, and Zhang Ziyi; sci-fi warriors from Star Trek, Blade Runner, and Star Wars; supersleuths and spies like the Avengers and Charlie's Angels; and gothic warriors such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Kate Beckinsale in Underworld and Van Helsing. In addition, the book is lavishly illustrated with over 400 photos of these popular-culture icons in action, interesting articles and sidebars about themes, trends, weapons, style, and trivia, as well as a complete filmography of more than 150 titles.

About this title

About the Author

Alain Silver is the author of The Samurai Film and the coauthor of fifteen other books, including Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, and two screenplays. He has written numerous articles for the Los Angeles Times, DGA Magazine, Film Comment, and Photon. He has also produced nine independent features and over fifty soundtrack albums, and is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America. James Ursini has contributed to various publications including Cinema, Femme Fatales, Mediascene, and Photon. Together, they are the coauthors of eleven books, among them the Film Noir Reader series, Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style, and The Noir Style. They both live in Santa Monica.

Synopsis

"The Modern Amazon" is organised into chapters that group women warriors into sub-genres, e.g., classic Amazons like "Xena" and the women of the Conan films; superheroes and their arch enemies such as "Wonder Woman", "Batgirl", and "Catwoman"; revenge films such as the "Kill Bill" movies; Sexploitation and Blaxploitation films such as "Coffy" and "Ilsa"; Hong Kong cinema and warriors such as Angela Mao, Cynthia Rothrock, and Zhang Ziyi; Sci-fi warriors from "Star Trek", "Blade Runner", and "Star Wars"; supersleuths and spies like the "Avengers" and "Charlie's Angels"; and, Gothic warriors such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Kate Beckinsale in "Underworld" and "Van Helsing" - and much more.

About this edition

• Publisher: Limelight Editions
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0879103272
• ISBN 13: 9780879103279
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432