| Genre-Busting Dark Comedies of the 1970s: Twelve American Films Contributor(s): Gehring, Wes D. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0786495421 ISBN-13: 9780786495429 Publisher: McFarland & Company OUR PRICE: $39.55 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2016 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism |
| Dewey: 791.436 |
| LCCN: 2016005839 |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 6.9" W x 9.9" (1.05 lbs) 252 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1970's |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This examination of dark comedies of the 1970s focuses on films which concealed black humor behind a misleading genre label. All That Jazz (1979) is a musical...about death--hardly Fred and Ginger territory. This masking goes beyond misnomer to a breaking of formula that director Robert Altman called anti-genre. Altman's MASH (1970) ridiculed the military establishment in general--the Vietnam War in particular--under the guise of a standard military service comedy. The picaresque Western Little Big Man (1970) turned the bluecoats vs. Indians formula upside-down--the audience roots for the Indians instead of the cavalry. The book covers 12 essential films, including Harold and Maude (1971), Slaughterhouse-Five (1972), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Being There (1979), with notes on A Clockwork Orange (1971). These films reveal a compounding complexity that reinforces the absurdity at the heart of dark comedy. |