The Hollywood Musical

The course will emphasize the sense of liberation that arises in the film musical--a liberation that is both reality and illusion, and which can be physical, emotional, aesthetic, and social, all at once. Performance, not narrative, is central to the genre. Topics will include the dynamic interplay of song, stage, screen, and body; the relation of narrative and non-narrative elements; the staging of identity (whether individual, racial, gendered, or ethnic); the centrality of Black and Jewish culture to the genre; issues of queer reception and interpretation; as well as the utopian possibilities offered up by many a musical.