What lies behind current feminist discontent with contemporary cinema? Through a combination of cultural and industry analysis, Hilary Radner's Neo-Feminist Cinema: Girly Films, Chick Flicks
and Consumer Culture shows how the needs of conglomerate Hollywood have encouraged an emphasis on consumer culture within films made for women. By exploring a number of representative 'girly
films,' including Pretty Woman, Legally Blonde, Maid in Manhattan, The Devil Wears Prada, and Sex and the City: The Movie, Radner proposes that rather than being 'post-feminist,' as is usually
assumed, such films are better described as 'neo-feminist.' Examining their narrative format, as it revolves around the story of an ambitious unmarried woman who defines herself through
consumer culture as much as through work or romance, Radner argues that these films exemplify neo-liberalist values rather than those of feminism. As such, Neo-Feminist Cinema offers a new
explanation as to why feminist-oriented scholars and audiences who are seeking more than 'labels and love' from their film experience have viewed recent 'girly films' as a betrayal of
second-wave feminism, and why, on the other hand, such films have proven to be so successful at the box office.
