Captive bodies
Subtitle: postcolonial subjectivity in cinema
By: Gwendolyn Audrey Foster.
Series: SUNY series, cultural studies in cinema/video
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
Subjects: Captivity in motion pictures; Imperialism in motion pictures; Racism in motion pictures; Sexism in motion pictures; Motion pictures -- Political aspects; Motion picture industry -- Political aspects -- United States
Description: Captive Bodies examines the film industry's fascination with bondage and captivity, seeking to revisualize American cinema through the lens of critical discourse on captivity narratives, slave narratives, and postcolonial critiques of cinematic constructions of "whiteness," "blackness," gender, and sexuality. Captivity is also examined here in relation to both those in front and behind the camera. Are we "subject" to others? Are we "bound" and "captive" in images?

Are we "captive" bodies and "captive" audiences, held hostage to the spectacles of voyeuristic pleasure? Are those behind the camera involved in a process not unlike that of the slave system, enslaving the body in the image? To answer these and other questions, Captive Bodies draws upon a wide range of critical methodologies, including postcolonial studies, feminist film criticism, anthropology, and phenomenology.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-230) and index.