Post-Victorian Corsetry on Film
Dorota
Babilas, University of Warsaw
From Judy Garland musicals to the
mock-heritage comedy Stiff Upper Lips
(1998) “a corset can do a lot for a lady” (to quote a Carol Channing song).
Quintessential Victorian revealing garments reveal more than a bit of
tantalising cleavage; they disclose changing worldviews and attitudes of the
generations of wearers and spellbound fans since the 19th century to
the present.
The corset communicates
contradictory cultural messages relating to questions of femininity, sexuality,
and power. It can indicate dominance and submission, conservatism and
rebellion, violence and liberation. The proposed paper will explore the
changing semantics of the corset in post-Victorian film context using
theoretical perspectives of Roland Barthes.
3a: Re-Defining the Corset (Chair: Alex Tankard) – CWE 124
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