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Eccentric Laughter

Queer Possibilities in Postwar British Film Comedy

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Dispels the idea that postwar British comedies were apolitical, arguing instead that they presented subversive, iconoclastic, queer experiments in living for a country that was rebuilding and reimagining itself after years of conflict.
Paperback / softback
02 May 2025
$76.74
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Dispels the idea that postwar British comedies were apolitical, arguing instead that they presented subversive, iconoclastic, queer experiments in living for a country that was rebuilding and reimagining itself after years of conflict.

Eccentric Laughter explores new ways to watch postwar British film comedies, arguing that their representations of eccentricity offered a set of possible queer futures for a Britain that had been destabilized by years of conflict and social upheaval. Far from being the apolitical cinema described by previous critics, these comedies-including both perennial favorites from Ealing Studios and neglected films ripe for rediscovery-make a joke of and suggest alternatives to the heterocentric home and family. Referencing a wide range of theories, the book gives details of how these films' comic queernesses are not structured on fixed identities but on an open play of possibilities, depicting eccentricity, artifice, drag, ruins, and the wild in ways that can still offer inspiration for experiments in living today. Engaging with contemporary queer theories and politics, the book argues that these films continue to address questions of urgent relevance to students and other viewers in the twenty-first century. Films discussed include The Belles of St. Trinian's, Genevieve, The Lavender Hill Mob, Simon and Laura, The Stranger Left No Card, and Young Wives' Tale.

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    Product Details
    ISBN-13
    9798855800029
    Author
    Benedict Morrison
    Publisher
    State University of New York Press
    Published
    02 May 2025
    Format
    Paperback / softback

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    $76.74
    Ships in 3-5 business days

    Delivery estimate

    Hurry up! Current stock:

    Eccentric Laughter

    $76.74

    Description

    Dispels the idea that postwar British comedies were apolitical, arguing instead that they presented subversive, iconoclastic, queer experiments in living for a country that was rebuilding and reimagining itself after years of conflict.

    Eccentric Laughter explores new ways to watch postwar British film comedies, arguing that their representations of eccentricity offered a set of possible queer futures for a Britain that had been destabilized by years of conflict and social upheaval. Far from being the apolitical cinema described by previous critics, these comedies-including both perennial favorites from Ealing Studios and neglected films ripe for rediscovery-make a joke of and suggest alternatives to the heterocentric home and family. Referencing a wide range of theories, the book gives details of how these films' comic queernesses are not structured on fixed identities but on an open play of possibilities, depicting eccentricity, artifice, drag, ruins, and the wild in ways that can still offer inspiration for experiments in living today. Engaging with contemporary queer theories and politics, the book argues that these films continue to address questions of urgent relevance to students and other viewers in the twenty-first century. Films discussed include The Belles of St. Trinian's, Genevieve, The Lavender Hill Mob, Simon and Laura, The Stranger Left No Card, and Young Wives' Tale.

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