Celluloid Girls, Tabloid Women: Movie Struck in 1950s America

The 1950s is a particularly significant historical period for both feminist film studies and women's history. The second wave of feminism is often portrayed as a reaction to the increasingly domestic roles of women as a result of the mass suburbanization occurring during this decade. Similarly, the rise of feminist film theory is a response to the sexualization of women both on and off screen in the motion picture industry. With women increasingly confined to the home in the 1950s, the media they consume becomes increasingly influential to their sense of identity and agency. Magazines served as guides for how women should fulfill their roles as homemakers, wives, and mothers while movies and television served as models for how women should look and behave. Through my analysis of popular magazines and films during the 1950s, I seek to investigate the connections between material and media consumption among suburban women. In doing so, I explore the significance of female fan culture within the film industry and how it contributes to constructions of the female identity during the 1950s.