Afterimages

This book marks a return for Laura Mulvey to questions of film theory and feminism, as well as a reconsideration of new and old film technologies. Its title, Afterimages, alludes to the dislocation of time that runs through many of the films and works Mulvey interrogates and influences the way we view them. Structured in three main parts, the book begins with a section on the theme of woman as spectacle and continues with a focus on films drawn from different parts of the world but directed by women and about women, and all adopting radical cinematic strategies. She concludes with analyses of moving image works made for art galleries, arguing that the aesthetics of cinema have persisted into this environment. Afterimages also features an appendix of ten frequently asked questions on Mulvey’s classic feminist essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” in which Mulvey addresses questions of spectatorship crucial to our era of #MeToo. It is an urgent and compelling book for anyone interested in the power and pleasures of moving images.