Movie Workers: The Women Who Made British Cinema

Melanie Bell's Movie Workers is a pioneering study that explores the economic and creative contributions of women in the British film industry from the advent of sound to the present day. It uses oral histories and trade union records to present a vivid counter-narrative to film history, focusing on the physical and emotional labor required to make a motion picture. Bell's feminist analysis examines women's jobs in film at important historical junctures and situates them in the context of changing expectations around women and gender roles.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 288 pages
\n Publication date: 06 July 2021
\n Publisher: University of Illinois Press
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After the advent of sound, women in the British film industry formed an indispensable corps of below-the-line workers, laboring in positions ranging from animation artist to negative cutter to costume designer. Melanie Bell meticulously charts the work of these women across decades, examining their far-reaching economic and creative contributions against the backdrop of the discrimination that constrained their careers. Through her use of oral histories and trade union records, Bell presents a vivid counter-narrative to film history, one that focuses not only on women in a male-dominated business but also on the myriad of physical and emotional labor required to make a motion picture. Bell's feminist analysis delves into women's jobs in film at pivotal historical junctures while situating their work in the context of evolving expectations around women and gender roles. Illuminating and insightful, Movie Workers is a groundbreaking examination of the unsung women whose invisible work brought British filmmaking to the screen.

\n Weight: 436g\n
Dimension: 190 x 228 x 32 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780252085864\n \n