SCMS Conference Proposal: The New Woman in 20th Century Crime Films (Deadline August 13th, 2009)
Crime films and films of detection that emerged in the US and abroad around the turn of the 20th century provide an exceptionally salient commentary on modernity and urban culture, and the New Woman figures prominently in this commentary because she is a product of this new culture as well as a figure of progress and uncertainty. Early cinematic representations of the New Woman indicate a fascination with this cultural model while using it as a form of entertainment to encourage social limitations on her social and political freedoms on and off screen. They also illustrate divergent cultural attitudes toward the New Woman.