Introduction

This volume evolved as a consequence of my curiosity about the widely held view that the influence of female stars and audiences—though significant within classical Hollywood, a period known as “the studio era”—declined in the second half of the twentieth century. ¹ A common assumption among scholars and critics is that, with the rise of the media conglomerates, culminating in the 1990s, resulting in what is now routinely referred to as Conglomerate Hollywood, young male viewers became the primary target for most film productions in theatrical release, ² with men and a masculine perspective dominating the film industry today in ways that are well documented, a position with which I have no reason to disagree. ³ This volume will argue, however, that the woman’s picture of classical Hollywood did not disappear. Its legacy manifests itself in screen narratives for women produced, distributed and consumed, for the most part, at the fringes of an industry defined by the large, diversified multi-national corporations that control the most profitable sectors of the contemporary entertainment industrial complex. Although some studios have survived into the twenty-first century, they are owned by these multi-national corporations (which I will henceforth designate as “the Conglomerates”), which have investments across a range of subsidiaries, including television networks as well as more recent global distribution franchises that exploit new media platforms and other types of financial interests unrelated to the entertainment industry. ⁴