Displacement of (M)others in Twenty-First Century U.S. Films: Impact on Maternal Identities of Other Subjectivities

(Hardback)

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This book retraces maternal philosophy by presenting an alternative genealogy and providing a concrete definition of the term (m)other. Most importantly, it introduces a new theory of The Gaze Economy in order to evaluate characters in films and measure its effect on the subjects in those films.


This book looks at philosophical traditions that excluded female voices and that codified women into motherhood and labor of care. From the philosophical foundation, the book moves toward presenting key ideas linked to maternal subjectivity, arguing that maternal subjectivity is rhizomatic, rather than just a split.

The central inquiries lead to the concept of (m)others and the discourses that this concept and these identities highlight, discussing maternal politics and the dispossession of maternal bodies into certain spaces to understand the importance of looking into the performativity of the maternal in both, fictional and non-fictional spaces. The author uses The Gaze Economy to look at the performativity of mothers as much as its aesthetic representation.

Reviews

Displacement of (M)others in Twenty-First Century U.S. Films examines how mainstream cinema marginalizes and misrepresents diverse maternal identities, particularly non-normative mothers. By analyzing film narratives, gaze theory, and economics, the work critiques the exclusion of these "mothers" and explores the broader impact on societal perceptions of motherhood. * Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai, Professor, Michigan State University, USA *

Author Bio

Jessica M. Rodrguez-Coln is Adjunct Professor at The School of Visual Arts, USA, as well as a multi-disciplinary artist. Her research focuses on maternal aesthetics, philosophies, politics, and performances in the Americas. Her publications include a chapter in Breasts Across Motherhood: Lives Experiences and Critical Examinations and a forthcoming chapter in the Queer Death Reader.