Towards a Feminised Mythography: A creative practice enquiry exploring mythic female characters from Early Welsh and Irish folktales as models for contemporary feminist films.

This creative practice research project by a female British filmmaker takes Early Irish and Welsh folktales as source material for contemporary feminist film narratives. Seeking to make interventions in the representation of women in cinema, it explores methodologies of feminised mythography in filmmaking practice, with dual aims: to express the inner life or spiritual journey of the heroine; and to find ways to invest contemporary female characters with mythic potency and power. Informed by Jungian archetypal theory and feminist revisionist mythmaking in women’s literature, it develops an original methodology for feminised mythography in filmmaking practice, evolved and demonstrated via two case studies where mythic models are explored and remoulded in feature films that reimagine mythic heroines as women living in the present day. Explored in three phases: interpreting and analysing mythic source material through a feminist lens; designing effective adaptation and screenwriting strategies; and the writer-director’s role in bringing mythically inspired narratives to the screen, this thesis presents an innovative methodology for feminist adaptation that can be applied to a range of mythic figures, with potential uses beyond the filmmaking context explored here. Critical reflections on the creative process evaluate the strategies applied and offer new insights into rethinking and adapting the heroine’s journey in feminist cinema.