'The Competitors' : violent women protagonists in popular cinema : a creative and critical thesis

• Main Author: Greenberg, Ruth
• Published: University of East Anglia 2012
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.585547

This thesis is a practice-based PhD thesis in creative and critical writing. This research comprises an original feature length screenplay and an accompanying critical thesis. The screenplay, "The Competitors", is a dystopian Western set in Britain 2053 and follows two women on a journey through a brutal landscape. The subjects of competition and violence are at the centre of this creative work, in particular in relation to expectations and representations of gender in popular cinema. The accompanying critical element is a discussion of competitive, violent female protagonists in popular cinema. It is in the critical exploration of these subjects that I fully engage with the critical and creative tensions they hold for me as a writer. The Introduction of the critical element provides an account of the critical and creative context of the PhD with particular focus on feminism and postfeminism, stylised and realist violence, and self versus other in relation to the subjects of competition and violence. Chapter One discusses female action icons from the 1970s to the 1990s in terms of the violent woman in popular cinema. Chapter Two looks at contemporary female action heroes and asks whether or not they have moved on from their iconic predecessors in terms of represenations of the violent woman. Chapter Three investigates how contemporary depictions of realist violence can provide new alternatives to the stylised representations of the violent women of Chapter Two. The Conclusion to the critical element is an analysis of the practice of writing my own screenplay as I attempt to position my work within the critical and creative context discussed and in particular in the contested space created by the violent, competitive woman in film.