By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, ... more By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, husbands and lovers to depicting a wider range of narratives about sex, including those that exploited the behaviour of incestuous family members. It is not by happenstance that films from this period toyed with sexual misbehaviours and mishaps - and especially incest; the works were part of a larger output of products that exploited the breakdown of family morals and showed men desperately trying to woo women and meet constructed ideals of masculine mastery. Films that presented the sexual explorations of teenage boys held a special position among these narratives. These works not only depict the adolescent boys in a sympathetic light, they also show the objects of desire - the women - desiring back with a mixture of temptation and maternal affection. Why were the outcomes for adolescent boys so different from those of the other men? By examining the audience demographic for these films (men aged approximately 16 to 35) and studies on their shared sense of infantilism and generational disconnect, I argue that these popular films addressed particular challenges to the postwar Italian family and to Italian masculinity in ways that resonated for male viewers in 1970s Italy. The teenage-boy sex comedies present such scenarios through tropes associated with melodrama and 'moving' literature that ultimately inform the drive behind representations of male infantilism in a broader range of postwar Italian comedies.
Production play addresses the constructed and productive fantasies between film producers and fan... more Production play addresses the constructed and productive fantasies between film producers and fans. “Play” has occupied a place in various theoretical discourses, but the key areas of overlap refer to experiences of bracketed time and space, where both absorption and creativity can form with lowered limitations. For fans of beloved films, play is the mechanism behind repeated viewings, for scouring the visual plane for “clues” to meaningful readings, and for bolstering the fantasy of connecting with the “original” production and producers, cast, and crew.
Horror Zone: The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema, 2010
The discipline of "Film Studies" sometimes has implied the influence of cultural studies on study... more The discipline of "Film Studies" sometimes has implied the influence of cultural studies on study of cinema and, with that, a leaning against overdetermined close readings. Some set and costume design practices, similarly, aim for art of being invisible, to do its job without being a distraction to the narrative or performances. For certain works in the horror genre that have had strong fan followings, this chapter argues for a balance between the merits of cultural studies approaches with fan studies approaches that include fan behavior of overdetermined close readings as well as set and costume design practices in which showcasing the craft is part of a particular intentionality. This chapter uses horror cinema as a case study, and specifically three films inspired by the serial killer, Ed Gein, whose representation involves horrific framing of his house and furnishings (the sets and costumes). Looking at Hitchcock's Psycho, Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Demme's Silence of the Lambs, this chapter examines the role of set and costume design within an overdetermined dialog between filmmakers and fans.
By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, ... more By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, husbands and lovers to depicting a wider range of narratives about sex, including those that exploited the behaviour of incestuous family members. It is not by happenstance that films from this period toyed with sexual misbehaviours and mishaps - and especially incest; the works were part of a larger output of products that exploited the breakdown of family morals and showed men desperately trying to woo women and meet constructed ideals of masculine mastery. Films that presented the sexual explorations of teenage boys held a special position among these narratives. These works not only depict the adolescent boys in a sympathetic light, they also show the objects of desire - the women - desiring back with a mixture of temptation and maternal affection. Why were the outcomes for adolescent boys so different from those of the other men? By examining the audience demographic for these films (men aged approximately 16 to 35) and studies on their shared sense of infantilism and generational disconnect, I argue that these popular films addressed particular challenges to the postwar Italian family and to Italian masculinity in ways that resonated for male viewers in 1970s Italy. The teenage-boy sex comedies present such scenarios through tropes associated with melodrama and 'moving' literature that ultimately inform the drive behind representations of male infantilism in a broader range of postwar Italian comedies.
By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, ... more By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, husbands and lovers to depicting a wider range of narratives about sex, including those that exploited the behaviour of incestuous family members. It is not by happenstance that films from this period toyed with sexual misbehaviours and mishaps - and especially incest; the works were part of a larger output of products that exploited the breakdown of family morals and showed men desperately trying to woo women and meet constructed ideals of masculine mastery. Films that presented the sexual explorations of teenage boys held a special position among these narratives. These works not only depict the adolescent boys in a sympathetic light, they also show the objects of desire - the women - desiring back with a mixture of temptation and maternal affection. Why were the outcomes for adolescent boys so different from those of the other men? By examining the audience demographic for these films (men aged approximately 16 to 35) and studies on their shared sense of infantilism and generational disconnect, I argue that these popular films addressed particular challenges to the postwar Italian family and to Italian masculinity in ways that resonated for male viewers in 1970s Italy. The teenage-boy sex comedies present such scenarios through tropes associated with melodrama and 'moving' literature that ultimately inform the drive behind representations of male infantilism in a broader range of postwar Italian comedies.
Production play addresses the constructed and productive fantasies between film producers and fan... more Production play addresses the constructed and productive fantasies between film producers and fans. “Play” has occupied a place in various theoretical discourses, but the key areas of overlap refer to experiences of bracketed time and space, where both absorption and creativity can form with lowered limitations. For fans of beloved films, play is the mechanism behind repeated viewings, for scouring the visual plane for “clues” to meaningful readings, and for bolstering the fantasy of connecting with the “original” production and producers, cast, and crew.
Horror Zone: The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema, 2010
The discipline of "Film Studies" sometimes has implied the influence of cultural studies on study... more The discipline of "Film Studies" sometimes has implied the influence of cultural studies on study of cinema and, with that, a leaning against overdetermined close readings. Some set and costume design practices, similarly, aim for art of being invisible, to do its job without being a distraction to the narrative or performances. For certain works in the horror genre that have had strong fan followings, this chapter argues for a balance between the merits of cultural studies approaches with fan studies approaches that include fan behavior of overdetermined close readings as well as set and costume design practices in which showcasing the craft is part of a particular intentionality. This chapter uses horror cinema as a case study, and specifically three films inspired by the serial killer, Ed Gein, whose representation involves horrific framing of his house and furnishings (the sets and costumes). Looking at Hitchcock's Psycho, Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Demme's Silence of the Lambs, this chapter examines the role of set and costume design within an overdetermined dialog between filmmakers and fans.
By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, ... more By the mid-1970s, Italian sex comedies had evolved from focusing on bawdy affairs between wives, husbands and lovers to depicting a wider range of narratives about sex, including those that exploited the behaviour of incestuous family members. It is not by happenstance that films from this period toyed with sexual misbehaviours and mishaps - and especially incest; the works were part of a larger output of products that exploited the breakdown of family morals and showed men desperately trying to woo women and meet constructed ideals of masculine mastery. Films that presented the sexual explorations of teenage boys held a special position among these narratives. These works not only depict the adolescent boys in a sympathetic light, they also show the objects of desire - the women - desiring back with a mixture of temptation and maternal affection. Why were the outcomes for adolescent boys so different from those of the other men? By examining the audience demographic for these films (men aged approximately 16 to 35) and studies on their shared sense of infantilism and generational disconnect, I argue that these popular films addressed particular challenges to the postwar Italian family and to Italian masculinity in ways that resonated for male viewers in 1970s Italy. The teenage-boy sex comedies present such scenarios through tropes associated with melodrama and 'moving' literature that ultimately inform the drive behind representations of male infantilism in a broader range of postwar Italian comedies.
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