Download or read book Another Fine Mess written by Saul Austerlitz and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2010-09 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. The Marx Brothers. Billy Wilder. Woody Allen. The Coen brothers. Where would the American film be without them? Yet the cinematic genre these artists represent--comedy--has perennially received short shrift from critics, film buffs, and the Academy Awards. Saul Austerlitz’s Another Fine Mess is an attempt to right that wrong. Running the gamut of film history from City Lights to Knocked Up, Another Fine Mess retells the story of American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother--the comedy. In 30 long chapters and 100 shorter entries, each devoted primarily to a single performer or director, Another Fine Mess retraces the steps of the American comedy film, filling in the gaps and following the connections that link Mae West to Doris Day, or W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell. The first book of its kind in more than a generation, Another Fine Mess is an eye-opening, entertaining, and enlightening tour of the American comedy, encompassing the masterpieces, the box-office smashes, and all the little-known gems in between.
Download or read book American Film Comedy written by Scott Siegel and published by Prentice Hall. This book was released on 1994 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An A to Z guide to film comedies. Illus.
Download or read book African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy written by Robin R. Means Coleman and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1998 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing new insight into key debates over race and representation in the media, this ethnographic study explores the ways in which African Americans have been depicted in Black situation comedies-from 1950's Beulah to contemporary series like Martin and Living Single.
Download or read book Kinds of American Film Comedy written by Wes D. Gehring and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-02-14 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This groundbreaking film study begins with a survey of American print humorists from eras leading up to and overlapping the advent of film--including some who worked both on the page and on the screen, like Robert Benchley, Will Rogers, Groucho Marx and W. C. Fields. Six comic film genres are identified as outgrowths of a national tradition of Cracker Barrel philosophers, personality comedy, parody, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and dark comedy. Whether it is Mark Twain or a parody film involving Steve Martin, comedy is most often about blowing "raspberries" at the world, and a reminder you are not alone.
Download or read book We Had a Little Real Estate Problem written by Kliph Nesteroff and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-02-15 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From renowned comedy journalist and historian Kliph Nesteroff comes the underappreciated story of Native Americans and comedy"--
Download or read book Class Language and American Film Comedy written by Christopher Beach and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-02-11 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the evolution of American film comedy through the lens of language and the portrayal of social class. Christopher Beach argues that class has been an important element in the development of sound comedy as a cinematic form. With the advent of sound in the late 1920s and early 1930s, filmmakers recognized that sound and narrative enlarged the semiotic and ideological potential of film. Analyzing the use of language in the films of the Marx Brothers, Frank Capra, Woody Allen and the Coen brothers, among others, Class, Language, and American Film Comedy traces the history of Hollywood from the 1930s to the present, while offering a new approach to the study of class and social relationships through linguistic analysis.
Download or read book High Comedy in American Movies written by Steve Vineberg and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2005 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High Comedy in American Movies explores the 'comedy of manners' film throughout the twentieth century, from the advent of movie sound to recent films, and shows how class comedy's inside view of the aristocratic lifestyle has been influenced by the culture and times in which the movies are produced. Outlining the conventions of class comedy, Steve Vineberg discusses its British roots and analyzes how many American filmmakers have modified the genre, creating a distinctly American approach to class. Easily accessible, High Comedy in American Movies makes an engaging supplement to courses in American film, film genre, and film studies.
Download or read book Film Comedy and the American Dream written by Zach Sands and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Film Comedy and the American Dream is an examination of national identity in the era of the American superpower as projected in popular comedic films that center on issues of upward mobility. It is the story of what made audiences laugh and why, and what this says about the changing shape of the American Dream from the end of the Second World War through the first part of the twenty-first century. Through a combination of narrative and thematic analyses of popular comedic films, contextualized within a dynamic historical framework, the book traces the increasing disillusionment with this central ideology in the face of multiple forms of systemic exclusion. It argues that film comedy is a major component of the discourse surrounding the American Dream because these movies often evoke humor by highlighting the incongruities that exist between the ideals that define this nation versus the actual lived experiences of its citizens.
Download or read book Early American Comedy written by Elbridge Colby and published by . This book was released on 1919 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The A to Z of American Theater written by James Fisher and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2009-09-02 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 50-year period from 1880 to 1929 is the richest era for theater in American history, certainly in the great number of plays produced and artists who contributed significantly, but also in the centrality of theater in the lives of Americans. As the impact of European modernism began to gradually seep into American theater during the 1880s and quite importantly in the 1890s, more traditional forms of theater gave way to futurism, symbolism, surrealism, and expressionism. American playwrights like Eugene O'Neill, George Kelly, Elmer Rice, Philip Barry, and George S. Kaufman ushered in the Golden Age of American drama. The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism focuses on legitimate drama, both as influenced by European modernism and as impacted by the popular entertainment that also enlivened the era. This is accomplished through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced entries on plays; music; playwrights; great performers like Maude Adams, Otis Skinner, Julia Marlowe, and E.H. Sothern; producers like David Belasco, Daniel Frohman, and Florenz Ziegfeld; critics; architects; designers; and costumes.
Download or read book Sketch Comedy written by Nick Marx and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-01 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of sketch comedy on American television and analysis of what it says about American culture and society. In Sketch Comedy: Identity, Reflexivity, and American Television, Nick Marx examines some of the genre’s most memorable?and controversial?moments from the early days of television to the contemporary line-up. Through explorations of sketches from well-known shows such as Saturday Night Live, The State, Inside Amy Schumer, Key & Peele, and more, Marx argues that the genre has served as a battleground for the struggle between comedians who are pushing the limits of what is possible on television and network executives who are more mindful of the financial bottom line. Whether creating new catchphrases or transgressing cultural taboos, sketch comedies give voice to marginalized performers and audiences, providing comedians and viewers opportunities to test their own ideas about their place in society, while simultaneously echoing mainstream cultural trends. The result, Marx suggests, is a hilarious and flexible form of identity play unlike anything else in American popular culture and media. “An excellent study of a long-neglected area in television/media studies and is part of a larger turn toward the centrality of comedy in post-war U.S. culture.” —Jeffrey Sconce, Northwestern University “A stalwart of television . . . sketch comedy finally gets the in-depth critical attention it deserves . . . Marx shows how sketch comedy has fit (and been constrained by) TV’s industrial contexts, from live variety shows in its earliest days to movement across media in the era of multiple platforms. These case studies not only chart sketch comedy’s past, they provide the theoretical and analytical tools to consider its future.” —Ethan Thompson, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
Download or read book Class Language and American Film Comedy written by Christopher Beach and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Counter This book examines the evolution of American film comedy through the lens of language and the portrayal of social class. Christopher Beach argues that class has been an important element in the development of sound comedy as a cinematic form. With the advent of sound in the late 1920s and early 1930s, filmmakers recognized that sound and narrative enlarged the semiotic and ideological potential of film. Analyzing the use of language in the films of the Marx Brothers, Frank Capra, Woody Allen and the Coen brothers, among others, Class, Language, and American Film Comedy traces the history of Hollywood from the 1930s to the present, while offering a new approach to the study of class and social relationships through linguistic analysis. "http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/cam021/2001025935.html.
Download or read book The Joy of Music written by and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2004 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Amadeus). This classic work is perhaps Bernstein's finest collection of conversations on the meaning and wonder of music. This book is a must for all music fans who wish to experience music more fully and deeply through one of the most inspired, and inspiring, music intellects of our time. Employing the creative device of "Imaginary Conversations" in the first section of his book, Bernstein illuminates the importance of the symphony in America, the greatness of Beethoven, and the art of composing. The book also includes a photo section and a third section with the transcripts from his televised Omnibus music series, including "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony," "The World of Jazz," "Introduction to Modern Music," and "What Makes Opera Grand."
Download or read book Currents of Comedy on the American Screen written by Nicholas Laham and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the evolution of film and television comedy from the 1930s through the present, defining five distinct periods and discussing the dominant comedic trends of each. Chapters cover the period spanning 1934 to 1942, defined by screwball comedies that offered distraction from the Great Depression; the suspense comedy, reflecting America's darker worldview during World War II; the 1950s battle-of-the-sexes comedy; the shift from the physical, exaggerated comedy of the 1950s to more realistic plotlines; and the new suspense comedy of the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on the popular "dumb cop" or "dumb spy" series along with modern remakes including 2006's The Pink Panther and 2008's Get Smart.
Download or read book American Silent Film Comedies written by Blair Miller and published by McFarland. This book was released on 1995 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This illustrated compilation identifies people, studios, technical companies, and terms associated with silent film comedy from about 1890-1930. More than 300 entries are biographical, including actors, studio and other corporate executives, directors and other technical personnel, inventors, etc. These sketches usually include birth and death dates and a summary of the contributions of the person to the genre; some entries include a photograph, selected filmography, and movie-magazine excerpts. For the more than 100 entries on studios and companies there is a brief history, emphasizing the firm's contribution to the development of silent film comedy. The third category of entries is quite a miscellany, including Blacks in Silent Film Comedies, Edison Kinetogram (a bulletin announcing new Edison films), Keystone Kops, Nickelodeons.
Download or read book Comedy and Cultural Critique in American Film written by Ryan Bishop and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-28 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book uses large scale social and cultural trends and major world events to analyse the American comedy film.
Download or read book Reeling with Laughter written by Michael V. Tueth and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2012-05-03 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Film comedy has been around as long as cinema itself. Over the years, particular forms of the genre have emerged, evolved, and spawned other branches of comedy. While these subgenres may vary in their approach to humor, all of them have the same goal: amusing audiences. In Reeling with Laughter: American Film Comedies—From Anarchy to Mockumentary, Michael V. Tueth examines some of the most enjoyable comic movies of all time. Beginning with the anarchic romp Duck Soup (1933), each chapter explores a specific subgenre through a representative film. Along with the Marx Brothers’ classic, other subgenres discussed in this volume include romantic comedy (It Happened One Night), screwball comedy (Bringing Up Baby and What’s Up, Doc?), musical comedy (Singin’ in the Rain), sex farce (Some Like It Hot), satire (Dr. Strangelove), parody (Young Frankenstein), neurotic comedy (Annie Hall), Dionysian comedy (Animal House), mockumentary (Waiting for Guffman), and animated comedy (South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut). In this volume, Tueth provides the background of each film’s production and discusses their audience reception, critical appraisal, and the qualities that have characterized these enduring works. Reeling with Laughter will appeal to film students, as well as the general public eager to revisit these great American films.
