What is it about?
The chapter considers the manner in which Woody Allen has employed storytelling devices in his work, and what effect these strategies have on the representation of women in his cinema. Given the special commercial and critical significance that Manhattan (1979) has within his oeuvre, it is this film that provides the central focus of the chapter. Issues relating to Allen’s use of voiceover narration, gendered agency/passivity and character binarism are considered in terms of how they impact upon the representation and function of Manhattan’s primary female characters. The work closes by considering how Broadway Danny Rose (1984) might be seen as an unofficial sequel of sorts to the aforementioned 1979 film, via its sympathetic rewriting of the narrative conclusion.
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Why is it important?
At a time when Allen's relationship to women is under examination like never before, the chapter is a timely intervention in considering the extent to which he conforms to the often-used label 'Woman's Director'. By considering some key metrics of narratology the writing explores how and to what ends Allen deploys female characters in what many regard to be his signature film, and what this says about him as a creative figure within the film industry.
Perspectives
I first had the idea of writing something about Woody Allen while I was doing my A-Level in Film Studies. That was 20 years ago, so to see this project come to fruition is highly satisfying. I'm glad to be able to contribute to the available literature on his cinematic work given that the window to do so appears to be narrowing considerably.
Dr John David Ayres
University of Manchester
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ‘New York Was His Town, and It Always Would Be…’, August 2022, JSTOR,
DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv2sx9fpg.5.
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