Molly Haskell
Encyclopedia
Molly Haskell is an American feminist
film critic and author. Her most influential book is From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies (1974; revised and reissued in 1987). She also co-hosted Turner Classic Movies
's The Essentials with Robert Osborne
in 2006 for one season.
. Haskell attended a few different schools during her education years. She attended Sweet Briar College
, the University of London
and the Sorbonne
before settling in New York. While there she wrote a newsletter about French films for the New York press. For the opening of new films in America, within the newsletter she interpreted the directors that came to America. To begin as a critic she then went to The Village Voice
, and became a movie reviewer. Haskell finally found a steady career with New York Magazine and Vogue
.
She is the associate Professor of Film at Barnard College
and the Adjunct Professor of Film at Columbia University
.
Molly Haskell appears in For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
, discussing how, in the 1960s at the Village Voice
, she looked at film dually, "both as a film lover and as a feminist" and of how, at a young age, she was affected by the French film, Diabolique
.
Haskell is married to fellow film critic Andrew Sarris
.
When Haskell published From Reverence to Rape it was one of the first books to chronicle women's images in film. It and Marjorie Rosen's Popcorn Venus typified the first feminist expeditions into film history and criticism, adopting the "image of woman" approach. Haskell compared the portrayal of women on-screen to real life women off-screen to determine of the representation of women in Hollywood cinema was accurate. Later developments in feminist film theory
have partially rejected Haskell's and Rosen's approach as rudimentary.
As Haskell points out, woman's film could be a compensation for "all the dominated universes from which she has been excluded: the gangster film, the Western, the war film, the policier, the rodeo film, the adventure film." A woman's film is also more self-pitying in comparison to the male adventure film which Raymond Durgnat
calls the "male weepies." The man's film abstracts the times before settling down, when men were battling nature or the enemy. Marriage becomes the killjoy. "All the excitement of life occurs outside of marriage. At a soap opera level, which Haskell considers the lowest level, a woman's film "fills a masturbatory need, it is soft-core emotional porn for the frustrated housewife." These "weepies" are focused on "self-pity and tears, to accept, rather than reject".
In the 1930s and 40's most films end tragically.
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
film critic and author. Her most influential book is From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies (1974; revised and reissued in 1987). She also co-hosted Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
's The Essentials with Robert Osborne
Robert Osborne
Robert Jolin Osborne is an American actor and film historian best known as the primary host for Turner Classic Movies, and previously a host of The Movie Channel.-Life and career:...
in 2006 for one season.
Education and career
Although Haskell was born in North Carolina she grew up in Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. Haskell attended a few different schools during her education years. She attended Sweet Briar College
Sweet Briar College
Sweet Briar College is a liberal arts women's college in Sweet Briar, Virginia, about north of Lynchburg, Virginia. The school's Latin motto translates as: "She who has earned the rose may bear it."...
, the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
before settling in New York. While there she wrote a newsletter about French films for the New York press. For the opening of new films in America, within the newsletter she interpreted the directors that came to America. To begin as a critic she then went to The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, and became a movie reviewer. Haskell finally found a steady career with New York Magazine and Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
.
She is the associate Professor of Film at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
and the Adjunct Professor of Film at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Molly Haskell appears in For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism
For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism is a 2009 documentary film dramatizing a hundred years of American film criticism through film clips, historic photographs, and on-camera interviews with many of today’s important reviewers, mostly print but also Internet...
, discussing how, in the 1960s at the Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, she looked at film dually, "both as a film lover and as a feminist" and of how, at a young age, she was affected by the French film, Diabolique
Les Diaboliques (film)
Les Diaboliques , released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends, is a 1955 French black-and-white thriller feature film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse...
.
Haskell is married to fellow film critic Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris is an American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism.-Career:Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the U.S...
.
From Reverence to Rape (1974)
Feminist film theory
Feminist film theory is theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the film elements analysed and their theoretical underpinnings.-History:...
have partially rejected Haskell's and Rosen's approach as rudimentary.
"The Woman's Film"
One particularly influential chapter in From Reverence to Rape discusses the genre of the "woman's film".As Haskell points out, woman's film could be a compensation for "all the dominated universes from which she has been excluded: the gangster film, the Western, the war film, the policier, the rodeo film, the adventure film." A woman's film is also more self-pitying in comparison to the male adventure film which Raymond Durgnat
Raymond Durgnat
Raymond Durgnat was a distinctive and highly influential British film critic, who was born in London of Swiss parents...
calls the "male weepies." The man's film abstracts the times before settling down, when men were battling nature or the enemy. Marriage becomes the killjoy. "All the excitement of life occurs outside of marriage. At a soap opera level, which Haskell considers the lowest level, a woman's film "fills a masturbatory need, it is soft-core emotional porn for the frustrated housewife." These "weepies" are focused on "self-pity and tears, to accept, rather than reject".
Woman's film characters
- Three types of women characters appear in the woman's film, according to Haskell:
- The Extraordinary woman
- For example, characters played by Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis.
- These women portray strong, powerful figures.
- The Ordinary woman
- These women are common, passive, and often a victim.
- They are precursors to soap opera characters.
- The Ordinary who becomes extraordinary woman.
- The victims who rise, or endure.
Woman's film themes
Haskell contends, "The domestic and the romantic are entwined, one redeeming the other, in the theme of self-sacrifice, which is the mainstay and oceanic force, high tide and low ebb, of the woman's film".- Sacrifice:
- A woman must sacrifice herself for her children.
- Her children for their own welfare.
- Marriage for her lover.
- Her lover for marriage or for his own welfare.
- Her career for love.
- Love for her career.
In the 1930s and 40's most films end tragically.
- Affliction:
- Women holds a secret. An illness or disease.
- Martyrdom is proportionate to guilt.
- Choice:
- Normally two suitors.
- Commonly the male is only curable by "her." The man is a clergyman or confirmed bachelor.
- Competition:
- The heroine must do battle with the woman whose (husband, fiance, lover) she loves.
Selected works
- Love and Other Infectious Diseases: A Memoir. New York: William Morrow, 1990, ISBN 9780688070069.
- Holding My Own in No Man's Land: Women and Men and Films and Feminists. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 9780195053098.
- Frankly, My Dear: "Gone with the Wind" Revisited. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009, ISBN 9780300117523.
External links
- Official homepage
- Articles by Molly Haskell in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...