Hollywood Musicals, The Film Reader (In Focus: Routledge Film Readers)

Articles examine the musical in relation to its generic form and conventions, the relationship between narrative and spectacle, gender and feminist analysis, camp production and reception, stardom, and the representation of race and ethnicity. Includes essays by: Rick Altman, Lucie Arbuthnot and Gail Seneca, Carol Clover, Steven Cohan, Richard Dyer, Jane Feuer, Patricia Mellencamp, Linda Mizejewski, Shari Roberts, Pamela Robertson, Michael Rogin, Martin Rubin and Matthew Tinkcom. This book explores one of the most popular genres in film history. The mainstay of film production throughout the studio era, the musical endures today though animated features, teen dance films, and features such as Evita and Moulin Rouge. Combining classic and recent articles, each section explores a central issue of the musical, including genre and stardom, gender and spectacle, race and sexuality, and features an editor's introduction setting debates in context. From Gold Diggers of 1933 to Singin' in the Rain, this book demonstrates that musicals were always more than simple entertainment, and examines why certain topics, films, and stars have become central to studies of the genre. Sections include: generic forms (examines how musicals achieved their cultural currency through their form), gendered spectacles (considers the representation of sexual difference in spectacle), camp interventions (reads against the grain of the genre's outward appearance of "wholesome", "straight" entertainment), racial displacements (traces the significance of race and ethnicity in the musical's use of entertainment traditions)

Hollywood Musicals, The Film Reader explores one of the most popular genres in film history. Combining classic and recent articles, each section explores a central issue of the musical, including: the musical's significance as a genre; the musical's own particular representation of sexual difference; the idea of camp, both through stars such as Judy Garland and Carmen Miranda and musicals themselves; and the displacement of race in Hollywood's representations of entertainment. Each section features an editor's introduction setting debates in context.

The articles in this collection examine the musical in relation to its generic form and conventions, the relationship between narrative and spectacle, gender and feminist analysis and the representation of race and ethnicity