A few others that haven't been mentioned yet (I think): A campily trashy example of the maternal monster is Roger Corman's BLOODY MAMA about Ma Barker (Shelly Winters) and her brood (including a young Robert DeNiro). Also see at the least the opening scene of Sam Fuller's THE NAKED KISS (Vengeful Lover?). Corman also produced the early Scorsese film BOXCAR BERTHA with Barbara Hershey--a version of the "woman warrior." While another obvious attempt to play off the BONNIE AND CLYDE theme, it does have some pretensions to seriousness. The current film THE RING, with its demonic child-ghost, might be especially worth a look if you haven't seen it yet. And no one I think has mentioned JOHNNY GUITAR, with its epic knock-down fight between Mercedes McCambridge and Joan Crawford. If you're interested in comic violence, Carol Lombard does a fair amount of slapping around in some of her films, especially NOTHING SACRED. Another monstrously passive-aggressive mother is Bette Davis's Regina in THE LITTLE FOXES. But then you could probably have a course just featuring Davis and Crawford in a number of films, culminating in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? Don Larsson ----------------------------------------------------------- "Only connect" --E.M. Forster Donald F. Larsson Department of English, AH 230 Minnesota State U, Mankato (56001) [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Pizzato, Mark [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 12:39 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Violent Screen Women--Types Thanks for all the suggestions thus far. I probably should have explained before that my current list (and course structure) involves the types developed by Barbara Creed in her psychoanalytic book, THE MONSTROUS FEMININE: the maternal monster (archaic mother and monstrous womb), the devilish (possessed) girl, the lady vampire, the witch, and the vengeful lover (femme castratrice)--to which I add the female serial killer, the woman soldier, and the female detective (as versions of the femme fatale and woman warrior). Of course, there's also the "final girl" in slasher films, but she's only violent at the end to escape the villain. I'm especially interested in films (or other types) where the violent screen woman is a complex character: victim, villain, and hero in one, throughout the film--not purely good or evil. Any further suggestions of films involving these character types, or of other categories? mp Mark Pizzato, PhD Assoc. Prof. of Theatre Dept. of Dance and Theatre Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC 28223 Phone: (704) 687-4488 FAX: 704-687-3795 [log in to unmask] (visit www.quickdonations.com and give life with a click of your mouse) ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite