»Transnational Divas

Dr. Emily Carman opens an interdisciplinary pathway across Film and Media Studies, feminist historiography, and media industry studies with the goal of investigating the contractual agreements, marketing, and reception of postwar Italian female stars who worked in Hollywood. Building on her groundbreaking work on the business practices of 1930s Hollywood freelance actresses (Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System), Carman examines the careers of Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, and Claudia Cardinale through a transnational lens and considers their experience in mid-century Hollywood in the late 1950s and 1960s. With Magnani's Best Actress win in 1955, followed by Loren's for Two Women in 1960, Italian actresses were a high commodity in Hollywood. This project considers their creative agency and how it compares to their American peers during this transitional period in American cinema from the old Studio system into the New Hollywood era.

Lead: Dr. Emily Carman

Carman, Emily. Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System (Texas Film and Media Studies Series). Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016.