Clown Culture

Comedy and Horror from Farce to Film

Inbunden, Engelska, 2027

1 229 kr

Kommande

Clown Culture takes a serious look at the phenomenon of clowns in media across history from antiquity to contemporary film, comics, and popular culture. Clowns may delight, but they also horrify. To what extent are they embodied extensions of ourselves? More than just slapstick comedy, the clown serves as an avatar to help us make sense of our everyday lives.In this multidisciplinary study, Adam Geczy combines anthropology, psychology, material culture, literature, film, and art to understand clowns in relation to power, imagination, and affective excess. By diving into the history and psychology of clowns, Geczy demonstrates that clowns, buffoons, and fools are an essential alias to the so-called well-adjusted individual. The figure acts as a proxy, an archetype of role-play in which the audience, as socialized beings, navigate and negotiate their relationship with others while dealing with a fragmented self-image and curtailed (and sometimes unruly) desires. From ancient dolls, Shakespearean fools, and Charlie Chaplin to Poltergeist, the Terrifier franchise, and the tragicomic television series Baskets, Clown Culture demonstrates the important roles clowns can take as we try to fit in as messy, desire-driven individuals.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2027-06-08
Mått152 x 229 x undefined mm
Vikt481 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieComedy & Culture
Antal sidor264
FörlagIndiana University Press
ISBN9780253078377

Tillhör följande kategorier

Film inom Kultur
Komedi och stand-up inom Kultur

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Catharsis by Proxy: Punch, the Dolls of Antiquity, and Poltergeist2. Several Uses of Fool: Shakespeare to Baskets3. The Aesthetics of Clown, Stage to Screen4. Special Madness and the Joker's Smile5. Coulrophobia, Killing, Pennywise, and the Possessed6. Grand Guignol, Scatology, and Freak Shows7. Masks: Cover to UncoverConclusion: Cyberclowns, Automata, and "Us"BibliographyIndex

"Reading this book is rewarding because of its effective compilation of the vast literature on clowns and some original perspectives from [Geczy's own] familiarity with relevant philosophical and psychological works. The book has an encyclopedic quality that will be a useful addition to the rich literature on clowns . . . and transcends a purely historical perspective."—Paul Bouissac, author of The End of the Circus: Evolutionary Semiotics and Cultural Resilience"Clown Culture makes a valuable contribution to the literature of clowns and clowning, particularly in tracing the line of development from the Commedia dell'arte to the present, with a strong emphasis on the dark side of the clown. . . . It has an original approach, tackling the complexities of the clown's development in the modern period."—Beatrice Otto, author of Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World