Yvonne Tasker Books

Exploring the portrayal of military women in film and television from the 1940s to the present, this analysis examines the complex representation of female soldiers as both effective and feminine. Yvonne Tasker highlights how these characters evolved from auxiliary roles during World War II to their depiction in various genres, including musicals and thrillers, reflecting societal attitudes toward gender. The book connects these portrayals to broader political and cultural discussions, revealing how women's roles in the military challenge traditional gender norms and expectations.

This collection examines the evolution and significance of action and adventure cinema from silent films to the present. It explores aesthetics, industry, ideology, and cultural impacts, addressing themes like genre definitions, narrative, and representation of class, gender, and ethnicity in both Hollywood and international contexts.

Released in 1990, The Silence of the Lambs is one of the defining films of late twentieth century American cinema. Adapted from the Thomas Harris novel and directed by the late Jonathan Demme, its central characters are now iconic. Jodie Foster is Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee investigating 'Buffalo Bill', a serial killer who flays his victims. Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer and former psychiatrist who assists Starling in exchange for personal details. With its pairing of a perverse, invasive anti-hero and a questing, proto-action heroine, The Silence of the Lambs unfolds as a layered narrative of pursuit. In this study, Yvonne Tasker explores the film's weaving together of gothic, horror and thriller elements in its portrayal of insanity and crime, drawing out the centrality of ideas about gender to the storytelling. She identifies the film as a key genre reference point for tracking late twentieth century interests in police procedural, profiling and serial murder, analysing its key themes of reason and madness, identity and belonging, aspiration and transformation. A new afterword explores the legacies of The Silence of the Lambs and its figuring of crime and investigation in terms of gender disruption and spectacular violence.

Focusing on Hollywood's complex representation of women, WORKING GIRLS critiques the industry's dual depiction of women as both empowered and objectified through sexual performance. It explores whether modern filmmakers understand and engage with feminist ideas and evolving sexual identities. The book is complemented by photographs that enhance its examination of these themes.