M. J. Maddox

DeMille – Dreyer – Fleming – Preminger – Duguay – Besson

In the first part of my PhD dissertation about Joan of Arc in film,  I compare the historical facts about Joan of Arc with six film depictions of her life.  I demonstrate that, although the films seem to present her as a hero, they in fact limit her autonomy to make her conform to patriarchal norms of female behavior.

In the second half of the study I trace fictional female heroes who owe their conception to the historical existence of Joan of Arc.  Like Joan, most of these female heroes are limited to gendered female behavior. I conclude that the only one of Joan’s fictional “daughters” who is permitted the same freedom of action that was previously limited to male heroes in Western literature is Buffy Summers. The blonde Vampire Slayer is the first female hero to rise to the same level of heroism previously permitted only to men.

My dissertation has been published as Portrayals of Joan of Arc in Film: From Historical Joan to her Mythological Daughters.

The six films that form the basis of the study are reviewed on this site:

DeMille’s Joan the Woman (1917)

Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Fleming’s Joan of Arc (1948)

Preminger’s Saint Joan (1957)

Duguay’s Joan of Arc (1999)

Besson’s The Messenger (1999)

While a graduate student, I wrote an analysis of the Besson film for the online Journal of Religion and Popular Culture: “Retiring the Maid: The Last Joan of Arc Movie.”