Eccentric Laughter
Queer Possibilities in Postwar British Film Comedy
Seiten
2025
State University of New York Press (Verlag)
979-8-8558-0002-9 (ISBN)
State University of New York Press (Verlag)
979-8-8558-0002-9 (ISBN)
Dispels the idea that postwar British comedies were apolitical, arguing instead that they presented subversive, iconoclastic, queer experiments in living for a country that was rebuilding and reimagining itself after years of conflict.
Eccentric Laughter explores new ways to watch postwar British film comedies, arguing that their representations of eccentricity offered a set of possible queer futures for a Britain that had been destabilized by years of conflict and social upheaval. Far from being the apolitical cinema described by previous critics, these comedies-including both perennial favorites from Ealing Studios and neglected films ripe for rediscovery-make a joke of and suggest alternatives to the heterocentric home and family. Referencing a wide range of theories, the book gives details of how these films' comic queernesses are not structured on fixed identities but on an open play of possibilities, depicting eccentricity, artifice, drag, ruins, and the wild in ways that can still offer inspiration for experiments in living today. Engaging with contemporary queer theories and politics, the book argues that these films continue to address questions of urgent relevance to students and other viewers in the twenty-first century. Films discussed include The Belles of St. Trinian's, Genevieve, The Lavender Hill Mob, Simon and Laura, The Stranger Left No Card, and Young Wives' Tale.
Eccentric Laughter explores new ways to watch postwar British film comedies, arguing that their representations of eccentricity offered a set of possible queer futures for a Britain that had been destabilized by years of conflict and social upheaval. Far from being the apolitical cinema described by previous critics, these comedies-including both perennial favorites from Ealing Studios and neglected films ripe for rediscovery-make a joke of and suggest alternatives to the heterocentric home and family. Referencing a wide range of theories, the book gives details of how these films' comic queernesses are not structured on fixed identities but on an open play of possibilities, depicting eccentricity, artifice, drag, ruins, and the wild in ways that can still offer inspiration for experiments in living today. Engaging with contemporary queer theories and politics, the book argues that these films continue to address questions of urgent relevance to students and other viewers in the twenty-first century. Films discussed include The Belles of St. Trinian's, Genevieve, The Lavender Hill Mob, Simon and Laura, The Stranger Left No Card, and Young Wives' Tale.
Benedict Morrison is Senior Lecturer in Literature and Film at the University of Exeter. He is the author of Complicating Articulation in Art Cinema.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Unstraightening Postwar British Comedy
Part 1: Coming to Terms
1. Exploding Ex-Centricity
2. Doing the Domestic Drag
3. Laughing at Nothing
Part 2: Going over the Top
4. Ruining Everything
5. Being Beside Yourself
6. Going Wild
Conclusion: Concluding Nothing
Notes
Filmography
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 26.04.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema |
| Zusatzinfo | 27 Illustrations, black and white |
| Verlagsort | Albany, NY |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 386 g |
| Themenwelt | Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies | |
| ISBN-13 | 979-8-8558-0002-9 / 9798855800029 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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