Female friendship, idealisation and the "need" for violence in Crush

Gordon, Suzy

Abstract

This article develops a feminist critical approach capable of responding to the uniquely pessimistic portrayal of female friendship in Crush (Alison Maclean 1992, NZ). Crush questions the possibility of supportive or empathetic relationships, disclosing instead a powerful feminist "need" for violence, between women. This poses a challenge for feminist theory which has yet to be fully understood (it is the first aim of this article to remedy this). Secondly, the article uncovers the same pessimism at the centre of Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic theories of idealisation, demonstrating the "negativity" of Klein's work and its value for feminist approaches to cinema spectatorship. © 2007 Taylor & Francis.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2007
• Journal: Feminist Media Studies
• Print ISSN: 1468-0777
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-5902
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 171-187
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680770701286987
• Keywords: female friendship, idealisation, violence, Crush, Melanie Klein
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1026493
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680770701286987
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This refereed journal article was developed during AHRC funded period of Research Leave 2003-4