| Unlikely Couples: Movie Romance As Social Criticism Contributor(s): Wartenberg, Thomas E. (Author) |
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ISBN: 081333439X ISBN-13: 9780813334394 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $56.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: July 1999 Annotation: In Unlikely Couples: A Cinema of Transgressive Love, Thomas E. Wartenberg directly challenges the view that narrative cinema inherently supports the dominant social interests by examining how popular films about "unlikely couples" (mismatched romantic unions viewed as inappropriate due to their class, racial, or gender composition) explore, expose, and criticize societal attitudes, boundaries, and prejudices. The films under consideration -- including King Kong, Pygmalion, It Happened One Night, Pretty Woman, White Palace, Some Like it Hot, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Mississippi Masala, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Desert Hearts, The Crying Game, Heavenly Creatures, Good Will Hunting, As Good As It Gets, and Titanic -- are examined both individually and as a whole to illustrate the way in which the genre uses the figure of a transgressive couple to confront issues of social privilege. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism |
| Dewey: 791.436 |
| LCCN: 99020238 |
| Lexile Measure: 1450 |
| Series: Thinking Through Cinema |
| Physical Information: 0.63" H x 6" W x 9" (0.91 lbs) 276 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In Unlikely Couples, Thomas E. Wartenberg directly challenges the view that narrative cinema inherently supports the dominant social interests by examining the way popular films about ?unlikely couples? (a mismatched romantic union viewed as inappropriate due to its class, racial, or gender composition) explore, expose, and criticize societal attitudes, boundaries, and prejudices. The films under consideration?including King Kong, Pygmalion, It Happened One Night, Pretty Woman, White Palace, Some Like it Hot, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Mississippi Masala, Jungle Fever, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Desert Hearts, and The Crying Game?are examined both individually and as a whole to illustrate how the genre uses the figure of a transgressive couple to explore tensions in genre's use of the figure of a transgressive couple to condemn social hierarchy as well as to raise a range of significant philosophical topics. |