Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema

The best thing about Yvonne Tasker's newest book, "Working Girls" is the clarity with which she discusses her subject. Too many film theorists get bogged down in discussing "theory for theory's sake," but Tasker illustrates each of her theoretical points-- for instance, the idea of "transvestism of class"-- with concrete examples from a number of films (in this case 'Working Girl' and 'Up Close and Personal'). This makes her larger and more abstract points more accessible to people who are interested in the cultural phenomenon of film, but who are "self-taught." Every time I pick up one of Tasker's books (she also wrote a fascinating study of gender and the action film called "Spectacular Bodies") I come away from it feeling educated and a little more confident in my ability to understand film and the ways in which it moves me. I look forward to her next endeavor.