Alerting readers to a body of recent work that has gone under-examined, Tania Modleski redraws in
Old Wives' Tales
the perimeter of popular culture. A critical analysis of films such as
The Ballad of Little Jo, The Piano
and
Dogfight, Old Wives' Tales
also takes up performance, autobiographical experience, and contemporary social issues to illustrate how women's genres mediate between us and reality. Modelski examines the changes occurring in traditional women's genres, such as romances and melodrama, and explores the phenomenon of female authors and performers who "cross-dress"—women, that is, who are moving into male genres and staking out territory declared off-limits by men and by many feminists.