The unruly woman
Subtitle: gender and the genres of laughter
By: by Kathleen Rowe.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Texas film studies series
Publisher: University of Texas Press; Univ of Texas Pr
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Austin, Tex
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
Subjects: Women in motion pictures; Feminism and motion pictures; Comedy films -- History and criticism; Women on television; Television comedies
Description: Unruly women have been making a spectacle of themselves in film and on television from Mae West to Roseanne Arnold. In this groundbreaking work, Kathleen Rowe explores how the unruly woman - often a voluptuous, noisy, joke-making rebel or "woman on top" - uses humor and excess to undermine patriarchal norms and authority.

At the heart of the book are detailed analyses of two highly successful unruly women - the comedian Roseanne Arnold and the Muppet Miss Piggy.

Putting these two figures in a deeper cultural perspective, Rowe also examines the evolution of romantic film comedy from the classical Hollywood period to the present, showing how the comedic roles of actresses such as Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, and Marilyn Monroe offered an alternative, empowered image of women that differed sharply from the "suffering heroine" portrayed in classical melodramas.

This feminist study of comedy in film and television offers exciting new opportunities for understanding these media. Written with verve and humor, it will be important reading for a wide popular and scholarly audience in mass communications, gender studies, and popular culture.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [247]-260) and index.