It became an integral part of her star image. Even though other, lesser-known actresses on screen in Europe had a similar look, for instance the French film actresses Mistinguette and Stacia Nerboskova in the 1910s, somehow Asta Nielsen made this look her own. In many of her films in the 1910s, Asta Nielsen sported different versions of the short hairdo we later came to perceive as characteristic of the 1920s. This makes sense because Nielsen’s face had, almost from the outset, been widely seen in movie theatre adverts using different versions of a drawn portrait of her with short dark hair as well as in reviews and on posters (Figure 2b). Significantly, the choice for the new company logo was a stylised version of her own face, indicating that her look was a significant selling point. Hamlet was the first film produced by Asta Nielsen’s own company Art-film GmbH (1920–1923). Asta Nielsen as company brand and first mover of the blunt bob The third image is the Art-Film company logo and an adaptation of that same portrait, whereas the Hamlet-poster shows Asta Nielsen holding the murder weapon. A publicity portrait of Asta Nielsen from the melodrama 'Totentanz' ('Dance of Death', 1912). The Asta Nielsen look: A Danish advert for the comedy 'Kærlighedens ABC' ('The ABC of Love',1916) from Politiken. Nielsen was thus breaking boundaries by portraying Hamlet as a woman and simultaneously honing her own iconic star image. Furthermore, Hamlet works as a star vehicle, where Asta Nielsen’s onscreen appearance, despite her cross-dressing, is familiar to her audience. The article argues that in Hamlet, Asta Nielsen makes cross-dressing central to an existential story about gender identity framed within high culture. The article proposes that it is possible to distinguish between three different kinds of cross-dressing films and aims to demonstrate how the critical reception in the Danish contemporary press reveals that some forms of cross-dressing are perceived as more culturally acceptable than others. The theoretical underpinnings of cross-dressing and cinematic representation are Laura Horak’s historical study of cross-dressing in early American silent cinema in Girls will be boys (2019) and Chris Straayer’s definition of the ‘temporary transvestite film’ in ‘Redressing the “natural”’ (1997). This article presents a qualitative study of how Asta Nielsen’s star image and her iconic look can be understood specifically in relation to her cross-dressing performances in the 1910s and to her role as the female prince of Denmark in Hamlet (1921). 2009, Seidl 2002) and the critical reception of her film as well (such as Allen 2013b, Engberg 1999, Tybjerg 2013). Allen 2013a, Engberg 1999, Ganeva 2008, Jerslev 1995, Schlüpmann et al. Previous research has studied different aspects of Asta Nielsen’s star image (e.g. In other words, Asta Nielsen’s androgynous look in Hamlet (1921) – the period costume aside – was recognisable and ‘on brand’ because it was closely connected to her already well-established onscreen presence. Furthermore, her look with the short, blunt haircut and the tight-fitting clothes had been a key part of her cinematic presence from her debut in Afgrunden ( The Abyss, 1911) as well as Den sorte Drøm ( The Black Dream, 1912) and Totentanz ( Dance of Death, 1912). In 1921, when Hamlet opened in Copenhagen, Asta Nielsen’s star image already had cross-dressing as a central component: from her cross-dressing comedies (the ‘pants films’) Jugend und Tollheit ( Lady Madcap’s Way,1913), Zapatas Bande ( Zapata’s Gang, 1914) and Das Liebes ABC ( The ABC of Love,1916), to her Pierrot/Harlequin-roles on film, such as Die Film-Primadonna ( The Film Primadonna,1913) and Komödianten ( Behind Comedy’s Mask,1913), and at pantomime performances in theatres (1913).
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