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by Hilary Radner, Routledge, New York, 2010, 240pp.
Hilary Radner's latest book, Neo-Feminist Cinema: Girly Films, Chick Flicks and Consumer Culture , explores the devices and themes utilized by chick flicks and how they affect, and are affected by, the female audience. Examining major girly films such as Pretty Woman , Legally Blonde , and The Devil Wears Prada , Radner draws her readers' attention to recurring themes including girlishness, self-fulfillment, and consumer culture. As I suspect is true for most viewers of chick flicks, my previous knowledge of such movies consists only of my experiences watching them. But Radner's book illustrates the world of feminism, film and consumerism that lies beneath the superficial facade of the chick flick.
I was astounded to learn of the resonance girly cinema has had within our culture and how the evolving female audience, in turn, has shaped these films. Anyone who has witnessed exuberant women showing up in stilettoed droves at a theater to see Sex and the City: The Movie would have some understanding of the pull girly films have on female viewers. However, though they may have fundamental opinions about chick flicks, these viewers lack the expertise Radner brings to her analysis. She approaches the topic of neo-feminist cinema with an astute perspective, multiple publications on film theory and feminine culture, and a Ph.D. in Radio, Television, and Film to boot. Radner guides readers past the shallow plot line of the chick flick to the important role it has played in Hollywood and popular culture, evoking relevant film and feminist history en route.
As the book's title suggests, Radner proposes a new concept for the version of feminism being distributed and reflected by modern chick flicks. Both feminine and feminist, the protagonists of the girly films examined in Radner's book are of the same mold. In her discussion of Legally Blonde , Radner explains, "...the girly film encourages a myopic focus on the individual and her status within the confined circumference...