Opera – między opresją a emancypacją kobiet
Opera: Between the Oppression and Emancipation of Women

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses opera as a place which generates unhealthy excitement in men while being dangerous for women. This is the central theme of Opera, a horror directed by the Italian master of the genre, Dario Argento. The film, which tells the story of a young singer stalked by a madman, may be interpreted as a metaphor for the conservative sexual politics of the opera house. Argento’s work is an excellent introduction to the discussion that swept across American musicology in the early 1990s, about the gender analysis of European musical culture; a discussion that can be summarised in the question: is the opera house a place where women are oppressed or, on the contrary, is it a space for their emancipation?

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