Taking De Lauretis'' proposition that popular cinema is a ''technology of gender'' the book explores the representation of women and the readerly activity of female audience members in respect of a group of eighteen films successful at the British box office between 1945 and 1965. A method for the analysis of fictional characters is presented and the discursive context within which contemporary meanings were formed is explored through reference to the press, particularly that addressed to a female readership.

Taking De Lauretis'' proposition that popular cinema is a ''technology of gender'' the book explores the representation of women and the readerly activity of female audience members in respect of a group of eighteen films successful at the British box office between 1945 and 1965. A method for the analysis of fictional characters is presented and the discursive context within which contemporary meanings were formed is explored through reference to the press, particularly that addressed to a female readership.

Taking De Lauretis'' proposition that popular cinema is a ''technology of gender'' the book explores the representation of women and the readerly activity of female audience members in respect of a group of eighteen films successful at the British box office between 1945 and 1965. A method for the analysis of fictional characters is presented and the discursive context within which contemporary meanings were formed is explored through reference to the press, particularly that addressed to a female readership.