Unique Doubles: Ornamental Sisters and Dual Roles in the Transitional Era Cinema

verfasst von

Ruth Mayer

Abstract

This paper investigates the representation of female family relations—particularly
constellations of sisterhood and of mothers and daughters—in
US-American
films of the 1910s against the backdrop of a larger aesthetics
of doubling. It addresses the close interaction of the cinema of the decade
with the variety stage and its predilection for synchronized and ornamental
arrangements and then moves on to reflect on the cinematic conventions of
double acts and dual roles in the context of the star system. It argues that by
enacting female relations as disturbing or delightful doubles, the entertainment
culture of the 1910s takes issue with the period’s conceptualization of
gender and sexuality.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Englisches Seminar

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Journal of Cinema and Media Studies

Band

60

Seiten

22-47

Anzahl der Seiten

26

ISSN

0009-7101

Publikationsdatum

24.04.2021

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2021.0018 (Zugang: Offen)