A Feminist Film Narratology: Several Questions, Few Answers

Barbara Szczekała

barbara.szczekala@gmail.com
independent researcher (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9576-9629

Abstract

The article serves as an introduction to feminist film narratology, outlining its goals, challenges, analytical tools, and the initial operationalization and analytical utility. Feminist film narratology is understood as a sub-discipline of narratology which concerns both narratives created by women and narratives on women. The metacritical and revisionist aspect of feminist film narratology is emphasized as a critical reflection serving to expose the illusory (male) universalism in traditional and structuralist propositions of narrative theory. Feminist film narratology is set in the context of other variations of narratology, primarily: corporeal (Punday, Stańczyk), natural (Fludernik), cognitive (Bordwell, Branigan), transmedial, and postclassical (Herman). One of the main categories used in the text is the concept of experientiality (Fludernik), according to which the narrative is capable of reproducing actual human experiences. This includes specifically women’s experiences related to socio-cultural inequality and bodily affect.


Keywords:

film narration, narratology, feminism, women's cinema, gender, feminist narratology

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Published
2022-11-02

Cited by

Szczekała, B. (2022) “A Feminist Film Narratology: Several Questions, Few Answers”, Kwartalnik Filmowy, (119), pp. 78–99. doi: 10.36744/kf.1267.

Authors

Barbara Szczekała 
barbara.szczekala@gmail.com
independent researcher Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9576-9629

Film scholar with a PhD in the arts; author of the book Mind-Game Films. Gry z narracją i widzem [Mind-Game Films: Games with Narration and the Viewer] (2018), awarded by the Polish Society for Film and Media Studies as Best Debut. Vice editor-in-chief of Ekrany magazine. Her research focuses on contemporary cinema, film narration and audience experiences.



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