Hollywood Heroines: Women in Film Noir and the Female Gothic Film

She also places the female figures of the femme fatale, female investigator and gothic heroine within the shifting contexts of the film industry and debates in feminist film criticism.  Hanson examines a wide range of films from both periods, including Suspicion, Gaslight and Pacific Heights, and gives particular attention to their presentation of female stories, actions and perspectives. She reveals a diversity of female figures, representations and actions in film noir and the female gothic film, and argues that these women are part of a negotiation of female identities, desires and roles across a long historical period. Hollywood Heroines offers us new ways of thinking about classic and contemporary Hollywood heroines, and about the interrelationships of gender and genre.