Unique Doubles: Ornamental Sisters and Dual Roles in the Transitional Era Cinema

authored by

Ruth Mayer

Abstract

This paper investigates the representation of female family relations—particularly
constellations of sisterhood and of mothers and daughters—in
US-American
films of the 1910s against the backdrop of a larger aesthetics
of doubling. It addresses the close interaction of the cinema of the decade
with the variety stage and its predilection for synchronized and ornamental
arrangements and then moves on to reflect on the cinematic conventions of
double acts and dual roles in the context of the star system. It argues that by
enacting female relations as disturbing or delightful doubles, the entertainment
culture of the 1910s takes issue with the period’s conceptualization of
gender and sexuality.

Organisation(s)

English Department

Type

Article

Journal

Journal of Cinema and Media Studies

Volume

60

Pages

22-47

No. of pages

26

ISSN

0009-7101

Publication date

24.04.2021

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2021.0018 (Access: Open)