| Slapstick Comedy Contributor(s): Paulus, Tom (Editor), King, Rob (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0415801796 ISBN-13: 9780415801799 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $52.20 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2010 Annotation: Slapstick comedy and its cast of film stars-Charlie Chaplin, the Keystone Cops, Fatty Arbuckle, and Buster Keaton among them-has long been viewed as central to the early formal development of narrative cinema generally, and of American cinema in particular. This new volume in the AFI Film Readers series presents 14 essays exploring the enduring debates and questions surrounding slapstick's role in the origins of cinema, as well as its place in movies today. A star-studded group of international film scholars discuss a broad range of topics including the contested theatrical or cinematic origins of slapstick, the links between comic spectacle and modernity, slapstick in a global context, and cognitive frameworks for understanding the spectatorship of the bodies at the heart of slapstick performance onscreen. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism - Performing Arts | Comedy |
| Dewey: 791.436 |
| Series: AFI Film Readers |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (0.80 lbs) 288 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: From Chaplin's tramp to the Bathing Beauties, from madcap chases to skyscraper perils, slapstick comedy supplied many of the most enduring icons of American cinema in the silent era. This collection of fourteen essays by prominent film scholars challenges longstanding critical dogma and offers new conceptual frameworks for thinking about silent comedy's place in film history and American culture. The contributors discuss a broad range of topics including the contested theatrical or cinematic origins of slapstick; the comic spectacle of crazy technology and trick stunts; the filmmakers who shaped the style of early slapstick; and comedy's implications for theories of film form and spectatorship. This volume is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the origins and continued importance of a film genre at the heart of American cinema from its earliest days to today. |