Beyond the

Public Sphere
Film and the
Feminist Imaginary

Ma r í a Pí a Lara
Northwestern University Press
www.nupress.northwestern.edu

Copyright © 2021 by Northwestern University Press.

Published 2021. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 9 7 8 -0 -8 1 0 1 -4 2 8 9 -3 (paper)
ISBN 9 7 8 -0 -8 1 0 1 -4 2 9 0 -9 (cloth)
ISBN 9 7 8 -0 -8 1 0 1 -4 2 9 1 -6 (ebook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ñames: Lara, M aría Pía, author.

Title: Beyond the public sphere : film and the feminist imaginary / M aría Pía Lara.
Description: Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2 0 2 1 . I Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: L C C N 2 0 2 0 0 3 5 2 9 7 I ISBN 9 7 8 0 8 1 0 1 4 2 8 9 3 (paperback) I ISBN
9 7 8 0 8 1 0 1 4 2 9 0 9 (cloth) I ISBN 9 7 8 0 8 1 0 1 4 2 9 1 6 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH : Women in motion pictures. I Women— Social conditions. I
Women’s rights— History. I Feminist film criticism.
Classification: LCC PN 1995.9.W 6 L 3 6 6 2 0 2 0 I D D C 7 9 1 .4 3 6 5 2 2 — dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020035297
 C ONTENTS

L ist o f Illustrations ix

A cknow ledgm ents xi

Introd uction: T h e N ew Topography o f Space 1

1. T h e Fem in ist Im aginary through the C inem atic Im agination 23

2 . T h ree M odels o f Im agination: As Faculty, as C o n text,

and as Im aginal 55

3. A G enealogy o f the C oncept o f R ape: A C ritical R econ stru ctio n

o f the P atriarchal S ocial Im aginary 93

4 . A nachronism s and R epresentation s as T ools for a C ritical

Fem in ist Social Im aginary 123

5. T h e L o st Prom ise o f Fem inist Agency in M odern Political

T h eories: T h e D ialectic o f V isibility into Invisibility 149

Conclusión: T h e N ew R oad o f V isibilities: O vercom ing Secrets,

Invisibility, and E xclusión 169

N otes 181

Bibliography 217

Index 229
 “Fightin g d om in ation and p ro m otin g em aiicip ation is a m atter not only o f
n orm s and argu m en ts but also o f pow erful im ages, Creative m etaphors, and
the bold im agination o f different lives and o th er spaces. R eco n stru ctin g and
recovering an im p ortan t but often neglected th em a tic strand in critical social
th eory and fe m in ist philosophy, M aría Pía Lara pow erfully advances and
exem plifies a view o f political and social struggles that highlights th e decisive
role o f im ages and the im agination.”
—M A R TIN SAA R, author o f Die Immanenz der Machí. Politische Theorie nach Spinoza
(The hnmanence o f Power: Political Theory afler Spinoza)

“By fo reg rou n d in g issues o f gen der su b o rd in a tio n and sexual v io len ce, L aras
b o o k show s b rillia n tly hovv c ritica l th e o ry o f the F ra n k fu rt S ch o o l trad itio n
can speak to the p o litica l parad oxes and ch allen g es o f th e # M eT oo era.”
—A M Y AI.LEN', author o(T he End ofProgress: Decolonizing
the Normative Foundations o f Critical Theory

I n B eyo nd the Public Sphere: Film a n d the Fem inist Im aginary, th e renow ned p h ilo s-
o p h er and critical th e o rist M aría Pía Lara challenges the n o tio n that the b ou rgeois
public sphere is the m o st im p o rta n t in form al institu tion betw een social and p o litical
acto rs and th e state.

D raw ing on a w ide ran ge o f film s— in clu d in g The Milk o f Sorrow , Ixcanul, IVadja,
The Stone o fP a tien ce, M a rn ie, A Streetcar N a m ed D esire, and Talk to H e r— Lara dis-
sects cin em a tic im ages that reflect p atriarch al cap italism ’s op p ression o f w om en. She
builds on th is analysis, d eveloping a co n c ep t o f the fe m in ist so cia l im ag in ary as a
b ro ad er and m ore co m p lex space th at provides a w ay o f th in k in g th rou g h th e possi-
bilities for e m an cip ato ry social tra n sfo rm a tio n .

M A R ÍA P ÍA L A R A is a professor o f moral and political philosophy at the Universidad

Autónoma M etropolitana in M éxico City. She is the author o f a num ber o f books, including
Moral Textures: Feminist Narratives in the Public Sphere, Narrating Evil: A Postmetaphysical
Theory o f Reflective Judgment, and The Disclosure o f Politics: Struggles Over the Semantics o f
Secularization.

Cover image: Egyplian army soldiers

arrest a teníale protester during clashes
at Tahrir Squarc in Cairo, December
17, 2011. Copyright © Reuters News ISBN 978-0-8101-4289-3
Agency.

Cover design by Marianne Jankowski

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