'Don't Blame this on a Girl' Female rape-revenge films

During the 1970s and 1980s a new sub-genre of female rape-revenge films appeared in the US. In these films, a beautiful woman hunts down the men who raped her and kills them one by one, frequently reveling in the pleasure of the man's agony when he realizes who she is and what she is about to d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScreening the Male pp. 103 - 117
Main Author Lehman, Peter
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 1993
Edition1
Subjects
Superb
Key Characterization
Male Spectator
Black Masculine
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Leopold Von Sacher Masoch
Repressed Homosexuality
Long Shot
Heterosexual Male Spectators
Mainstream Hollywood Cinema
Girl Friend
Gang Rape
Young Men
Alley Cat
Shot Liberty Valance
Sudden Impact
Cat Chaser
Poor White Trash
Woman Hunts
Rape Revenge Films
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Summary:During the 1970s and 1980s a new sub-genre of female rape-revenge films appeared in the US. In these films, a beautiful woman hunts down the men who raped her and kills them one by one, frequently reveling in the pleasure of the man's agony when he realizes who she is and what she is about to do. Although these films have appeared in a number of genres, several B movie cult classics such as I Spit on Your Grave (1978), Ms. 45 (1981), and Alley Cat (1982) are the quintessential examples. This structure has, however, entered the mainstream Hollywood cinema. In fact, Hannie Caulder (1972), a Western starring Raquel Welch and directed by Burt Kennedy, is the earliest such film I have identified. Clint Eastwood's Sudden Impact (1983), starring Sondra Locke, is a more recent example of a major Hollywood genre film which conforms to the pattern. Even such seemingly serious films as Extremities (1986), an adaptation of William Mastrosimone's play starring Farrah Fawcett, are related.
ISBN:9781138169517
9780415077590
0415077591
113816951X
DOI:10.4324/9780203142219-9