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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Balcerzak, Scott, author.

Title Buffoon men : classic Hollywood comedians and queered masculinity / Scott Balcerzak.

Publication Info. Detroit, Michigan : Wayne State University Press, [2013]

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (x, 258 pages : illustrations).
text file PDF
Physical Medium polychrome
Series Contemporary approaches to film and media series
Contemporary approaches to film and media series.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-248) and index.
Contents Introduction: "Someone like me for a member": classic Hollywood comedians and buffoonish masculinity -- "Novelties and notions": Mae West meets W.C. Fields -- Con men and henpecked husbands: W.C. Fields as masculine icon -- "Whitefacing" the nebbish: Eddie Cantor's assimilation and influence -- Queered radio / Queered cinema: Jack Benny's mediated voice -- Queering the fraternity: Laurel and Hardy and heterosexual brotherhood -- Military disservice: Wheeler and Woolsey and Abbott and Costello join the army -- Conclusion: Beyond classic Hollywood /beyond buffoonish masculinity.
Summary Film scholars and fans have used distinctive terms to describe the Classic Hollywood comedian: He is a "trickster," a "rebel," or a "buffoon." Yet the performer is almost always described as a "he." In Buffoon Men: Classic Hollywood Comedians and Queered Masculinity, Scott Balcerzak reads the performances of notable comedians such as W.C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello through humor and queer theory to expose a problematic history of maleness in their personas. He argues that contrary to popular notions of Classic Hollywood history, these male comedians rearranged or, at times, rejected heteronormative protocols. -- Publisher website.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Comedy films -- United States -- History and criticism.
Comedy films.
United States.
Motion pictures -- Social aspects -- United States.
Motion pictures -- Social aspects.
Masculinity in motion pictures.
Masculinity in motion pictures.
Queer theory.
Queer theory.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Subject Queer theory.
Other Form: Print version: Balcerzak, Scott. Buffoon men. Detroit, Michigan : Wayne State University Press, [2013] 9780814339657 (DLC) 2013006169 (OCoLC)828487104
ISBN 9780814339664 (electronic book)
0814339662 (electronic book)
9780814339657 (paperback ; alkaline paper)
0814339654 (paperback ; alkaline paper)