Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-229) and index
Filmography: pages 231-234
Acknowledgements; List of Illustrations; Introduction; Section One: Costume and Film; Section Two: Tropes; Section Three: Case Studies; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Filmography; Index
The High School outsider takes off her glasses, puts on a dress, and becomes the Prom Queen; the dowdy woman has her hair done, buys some chic new clothes and starts to attract the men. Cinderella and Pygmalion stories still provide inspiration for the plots of Hollywood romantic comedies, dramas, and even action films. Their perennial use prompts a series of questions: is, for example, male agency necessary to effect the transformation, or can the woman change herself? Can she ever change him? Most pressingly, what do these images of change and transformation, of improvement and transcendence
