‘Mattering’ Women’s Lives on Screen: An Introduction

Abstract

The aim of this introduction is to provide a context for the articles that follow in this cluster on Women’s Lives on Screen. Starting with some reflections on how biopics can matter to audiences, I propose the use of ‘mattering’ as a concept for the study of women’s biopics which helps consider their objectification of women as biographical ‘material’ on screen in tandem with their emancipatory refiguring of women as biographical subjects that are made to matter. The introduction also offers a brief overview of biopic studies as they relate to the subject of women’s lives on screen. It ends by sketching the breadth of topics covered in this cluster with a summary of the eleven articles.