Popcorn Venus; women, movies the American dream

Rosen's book, one of the first books written by a woman about women in film, is a first step in the right direction. Rosen slogged through endless reels of film from the 1900s to the present, carefully documenting significant and insignificant films from all periods. Her index lists hundreds of titles, and there is also an impressive bibliography about women, including articles from popular magazines and newspapers relevant to film images or to the position of women in society at various times. Rosen manages to give a brief description of each film's plot, and to capture in succinct phrases the essence of its style, tone, and attitude toward women. Rosen's lively style is ultimately responsible for the ease with which the book moves along. Her wit, irony and humor keep the reader interested. There is information about stars' lives, their relationships with directors, their attitudes to their careers. The text throughout is punctuated with thoughtfully chosen remarks by stars, directors, and producers, and with quotations from popular magazines about what women are or should be. Rosen attempts to account for the changes in female images in terms of women's place in society at any one time.