I loved this, thanks Kate. I’ve seen the film, but haven’t read the book - to my shame! I began studying film at O Level and saw it through to post-graduate level and one of my favourite early courses was ‘Film, Femininity and the Female Experience’. It’s a while since I’ve watched The Hours, so it’s definitely time for another viewing. I hope you’re having a fab weekend!
The Hours is on my list to both read and watch and I'm not sure why I haven't done so before now but this reminds me that I want to.
I find it so interesting when books take people from different points of history and meld them together. I recently read The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. and although it's not quite the same, it has a similar format:
"It is a fictional story rooted in a lot of historical autobiography that is told through the lens of three different characters, alternating viewpoints by chapter. 1) Estee is an entirely fictional present-day museum curator who has been given a handwritten copy of The Bell Jar that nobody ever knew existed. 2) Boston Rhodes is a poet based on Anne Sexton who was in a poetry class with Sylvia Plath around the time of the writing of the Bell Jar. Through her we learn a lot about both women’s experiences with depression, balancing motherhood and creativity, and being a female in the male-dominated poet world of the time. 3) And Ruth Barnhouse is a psychiatrist working with Sylvia Plath while she’s in McLean, an autobiographical experience that informed The Bell Jar and therefore the murky bridge between fact and fiction within the book.
Fascinating discussion! I actually watched ‘The Hours’ before I read it. Both the film and the book are fantastic. I love that we’re starting to see films that pass the Bechdel Test more and more, and it’s great to see more representation of other groups on screen too. Thank you for sharing :)
Great film and great read of the gaze! Have you heard about the Geena Davis Institute? I don't know a lot about it but I've been seeing it pop up a lot recently.
Bond, Bechdel, and The Female Gaze
I loved this, thanks Kate. I’ve seen the film, but haven’t read the book - to my shame! I began studying film at O Level and saw it through to post-graduate level and one of my favourite early courses was ‘Film, Femininity and the Female Experience’. It’s a while since I’ve watched The Hours, so it’s definitely time for another viewing. I hope you’re having a fab weekend!
The Hours is on my list to both read and watch and I'm not sure why I haven't done so before now but this reminds me that I want to.
I find it so interesting when books take people from different points of history and meld them together. I recently read The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. and although it's not quite the same, it has a similar format:
"It is a fictional story rooted in a lot of historical autobiography that is told through the lens of three different characters, alternating viewpoints by chapter. 1) Estee is an entirely fictional present-day museum curator who has been given a handwritten copy of The Bell Jar that nobody ever knew existed. 2) Boston Rhodes is a poet based on Anne Sexton who was in a poetry class with Sylvia Plath around the time of the writing of the Bell Jar. Through her we learn a lot about both women’s experiences with depression, balancing motherhood and creativity, and being a female in the male-dominated poet world of the time. 3) And Ruth Barnhouse is a psychiatrist working with Sylvia Plath while she’s in McLean, an autobiographical experience that informed The Bell Jar and therefore the murky bridge between fact and fiction within the book.
https://createmefree.substack.com/p/the-last-confessions-of-sylvia-p
Fascinating discussion! I actually watched ‘The Hours’ before I read it. Both the film and the book are fantastic. I love that we’re starting to see films that pass the Bechdel Test more and more, and it’s great to see more representation of other groups on screen too. Thank you for sharing :)
The Hours is such brilliance. Great piece.
Great film and great read of the gaze! Have you heard about the Geena Davis Institute? I don't know a lot about it but I've been seeing it pop up a lot recently.
Did we talk about it already? Can't remember :)
https://seejane.org/
Loved the film, love the book. Julianne Moore making that cake...absolutely of the era she represents