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Laura Mulvey gives Suvi Aronen Memorial Lecture at UEL

Thursday 11 May 2006

'The New Woman of the 1920s - A Paradox for Feminist Film Theory' was the theme of the 2nd Annual Suvi Aronen Memorial Lecture held at the University of East London (UEL) Docklands Campus on Monday 8 May.

World-renowned film scholar Laura Mulvey delivered the lecture, hosted by UEL's School of Social Sciences, Media & Cultural Studies in honour of Suvi Aronen.

Suvi was a student of Cultural Studies and Film History at UEL and was completing the final year of her degree when her life was tragically cut short in March 2003. A brilliant and popular student, Suvi was posthumously awarded a first class degree by UEL, and the university has now has set up an annual lecture in her memory.

David Butler, one of her former lecturers at UEL, said: "Suvi's death was a terrible loss; she was a wonderful person who I'm sure would have gone on to make a tremendous contribution to her field. She had a passionate interest in feminist scholarship, and would have been deeply interested in this evening's lecture."

David also announced the establishment of the Suvi Aronen Prize, to be awarded to each year for evidence of outstanding feminist cultural studies scholarship in a final year undergraduate project.

Laura Mulvey is a leading British feminist film theorist and film maker and currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck College, University of London. Laura worked at the British Film Institute for many years and is best known for her "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", which has been highly influential and provoked continuing debates in film theory, feminism and psychoanalysis.

Her lecture examined the emergence as a screen type in 1920s Hollywood of the 'independent' new woman, as represented, above all, by the emblematic 'flapper girl' Clara Bow.

She said: “In a series of pre-talkie movies, Clara embodied the 'It' qualities of working-class factory girls apparently capable through their vivacity of breaking through customary class barriers. Interpreted against the social and economic upheavals of the time, however, the 'democracy of glamour' was both short-lived and may be seen to have displaced deeply unresolved conflicts of race and class convulsing North America and Europe.”

Ends/.

For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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