Re-building the Idea of Being a Woman. The Audiovisual Legacy of Lila Crane

Abstract

his article gives a historical perspective on the route traced by women investigators in Hollywood audiovisual narrative. The starting point and main focus of the thrilling detective story at the heart of the enigma regarding being a woman is the character of Lila Crane (Hitchcock’s Psycho, 1960). The split structure of this horror film masterpiece, defined by literary reviews as a classic example of a tale of modernity, offers a subversive view of women’s issues in audiovisual discourse. To assess the audiovisual legacy of Lila, we selected a series of audiovisual texts which draw attention to a cultural dialogue with this modern character. A two-fold trend can be seen in these references: the confrontation between a progressive audiovisual narrative and a retro-narrative aimed at restraining the progress of this rule-breaking archetype.