Sisters On Screen

Perhaps the most vital, emotionally complex, and lasting attachments between women occur between sisters. Whether as best friends or antagonists, "sisters remain entangled in a common tapestry of mutual experience and remembrance, family and history," according to author Eva Rueschmann. Although many of the women-centered films in the last three decades depict the relationship between sisters as a pivotal aspect of a character's psychological development, the now substantial body of feminist film criticism has not taken up this theme in any sustained way. InSisters on Screen, Eva Rueschmann explores the sister bond in a wide range of modernist feature films that depart from the conventional cinematic rendering of women's lives. Drawing on the psychoanalytic concept of intersubjectivity, this book emphasizes the role of a woman's relationship and inner world in her continual quest for self-knowledge. Offering an original and absorbing perspective on women's filmic images,Sisters on Screenreveals how post-1960s cinema has articulated the ways in which biological sisters negotiate mutuality and difference, co-author family histories, and profoundly shape each other's political and personal identities. The films in focus question standards of femininity as they probe into memory, fantasy, and desire, bringing women's realities into view in the process. Structuring her discussion in terms of life-cycle stages—adolescence and adulthood—Rueschmann offers an in-depth discussion of such films asAn Angel at My Table,Double Happiness,Eve's Bayou,Gas Food Lodging,Heavenly Creatures,Little Women,Marianne and Julianne,Paura e amore,Peppermint Soda,The Silence,Sweetie, andWelcome to the Dollhouse. Rueschmann draws upon the works of filmmakers from the 1970s to the 1990s. Some of the directors included in her study are Allison Anders, Gillian Armstrong, Ingmar Bergman, Jane Campion, Peter Jackson, Mina Shum, Diane Kurys, Kasi Lemmons, Todd Solondz, and Margarethe von Trotta.Sisters on Screenwill appeal to anyone interested in women's studies, film studies, psychology, psychoanalytic readings of cinema, women directors, and international modern film. Author note:Eva Rueschmannis Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at Hampshire College.

This timely study breaks new ground in exploring how recent film and television horror texts articulate a female rite of passage, updating the cautionary concerns found in fairy tales of the past, particularly in warning against predatory men, treacherous females and unhappy family situations.

Whilst it is not possible to generalise about the role of African women in cinema, there is, nonetheless, evidence that a growing number of women from all parts of the continent are becoming engaged in the various mediums of film, video and television. This book looks at the diverse experiences of both female film pioneers and women film students; through a series of interviews the author discovers what motivated these women to take up film and discusses both the creative aspects of their work and their broader political concerns.

The story of three sisters, all Wisconsin National Guard members, going off to war together brought local media attention-when Michelle Witmer became the first female National Guard member to be killed-in-action the story brought National attention. When her parents went public with their request to have their surviving daughters taken out of harm's way, the story went round the world. Using the letters, emails, and phone calls received during their deployment, John Witmer describes his daughters' experiences in Iraq and provides insight not only into the lives of female soldiers, but into the lives of families who wait for soldiers. Sisters in Arms illuminates the changing roles of women in the military while sharing the deeply personal story of a family's struggle to come to terms with profound loss.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "A charming, hilarious, feel-good story about the kind of bonds & rivalries only sisters can share. Also, a great present for your sister for the holidays!!"--Reese Witherspoon Three generations. Two chicken shacks. One recipe for disaster. In tiny Merinac, Kansas, Chicken Mimi's and Chicken Frannie's have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state--and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than thirty-five-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi's before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie's. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda sends an SOS to Food Wars, the reality TV restaurant competition that promises $100,000 to the winner. But in doing so, she launches both families out of the frying pan and directly into the fire. . . The last thing Brooklyn-based organizational guru Mae Moore, Amanda's sister, wants is to go home to Kansas. But when her career implodes, helping the fading Mimi's look good on Food Wars becomes Mae's best chance to reclaim the limelight--even if doing so pits her against Amanda and Frannie's. Yet when family secrets become public knowledge, the sisters must choose: Will they fight with each other, or for their heritage?

When Cynthia, an ardent tomboy, and her younger sister Abby, the family drama queen, return to their familial home after the death of their mother, the mysteries of the past begin to unravel as diaries are found and forgotten memories elicit tears of joy and sadness. Their very souls are encrusted in a house where rivalry and devotion coexisted all while leaving their indelible prints.

Following on from The Midwife's Daughter, Aren't We Sisters? is a gripping novel about buried secrets and unlikely friendship. Norah Thornby can no longer afford to live in her grand family home in the centre of Silkhampton. Unless, perhaps, she can find a respectable lodger. But Nurse Lettie Quick is not nearly as respectable as she seems. What's really going on at the clinic she has opened? And why has she chosen Silkhampton? Meanwhile the beautiful Rae Grainger has found the perfect place to stay, in an isolated house miles away from the town. It's certainly rather creepy, especially at candlelit bedtime, but Rae knows that all she has to do is stay out of sight, until others - paid, professional others - are ready to take her little problem away. Then she can just forget the whole ghastly business . . . can't she? No one guesses, of course, that there's a killer quietly at work in Silkhampton; that in one way or another all three women are in danger . . .

David R. Mastbergen is the author of The Marvels of the Healer series. He was born in the Heartland in the city of Worthington, Minnesota. He was raised in Worthington until he enlisted into the United States Navy and spent the next twenty-plus years servicing his country. Upon retiring from the navy as a chief warrant officer, he spent nine-plus years working for the state of Minnesota. David has a Master of Arts degree in management from the College of St. Scholastica and a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Coleman College.