f Afterword: Some reflections on the engagement of feminism with film from the 1970s to the present day

In response to the 2015 ‘Feminisms’ issue of MIRAJ (4:1&2), this article will discuss the development of feminist engagement with film over the last four decades (most particularly in the United Kingdom), beginning with its origins in the radical film practices of the 1970s and noting its variations across time according to changes in social conditions and mentalities. Reference will be made to Mulvey’s original moments of engagement with film and feminist theory, and their conversion into practice notably in her own film Riddles of the Sphinx (1977 with Peter Wollen) and Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman (1975), but the article will also comment on ways in which the MIRAJ issue opened up histories and perspectives that are less widely discussed in the literature. The relationship of feminism to economic and social exploitation will also be discussed and forms of resistance will be identified, particularly in the culture of collectivities. Finally, the psychoanalytic approach proposed by Elizabeth Cowie in relation to affect and ‘gap’ will enter the frame, while slowness and duration in early feminist film will lead into a deeper discussion of practice.