• Cambridge Scholars Publishing

    "[Second Thoughts on Capitalism and the State is a] profoundly reflective book shows a pathway forward for academics and activists alike who are stymied by the disconnect between deep critical scholarship and emancipatory social change, yet who will still not give up the good fight."

    - Professor Diane E. Davis, Harvard University

Hollywood’s (m)Other Aperture: Pre-Oedipal Mothers, FEMININITY, and the Movies

This study explores how mainstream movies lend themselves to the portrayal of imagery that reflects the earliest stages of human development. Filmmakers take full advantage of this rich, body-centered source of human experience. Avatar, Minority Report, and Annihilation, among the other movies explored in this book, incorporate patterns of images that (re)present pre-Oedipal (m)Others, FEMININITY, and the originary maternal authority. The book explores how mainstream movies increasingly expose mass audiences to signs and resonances from our prelingual intrauterine and extrauterine psychological experiences. In addition, it compares and contrasts how the prelingual experience as depicted in these movies relates to themes of inclusivity that encompass diverse film inquiry, including queer theory, as well as human/nonhuman animal kinship and hybridity.

In sum, the text analyses how Hollywood movies depict and integrate the prelingual experience into the commercial cinematic apparatus and how this inspires new understanding of plurality, FEMININITY and originary maternal authority in culture and society.


Jaime Bihlmeyer is Professor Emeritus in the Media, Journalism and Film Department at Missouri State University, USA, where he teaches online courses in Film Theory. His scholarly activity includes research into the pre-Oedipal stage of human development as it manifests in mainstream movies. He focuses particularly on Kristeva’s maternal semiotic and its relation to FEMININITY as a pansexuality generated by prelingual object relations. He has published chapters in scholarly volumes, as well as articles in Cinema Journal and other academic journals.

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Buy This Book

ISBN: 1-5275-3587-8

ISBN13: 978-1-5275-3587-9

Release Date: 16th October 2019

Pages: 364

Price: £64.99

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