Letters to the Editor: Gene Kelly
This morning, I came across two letters to the editor from the Pittsburgh: Post-Gazette, both of which concern one of my favorite stars/dancers/entertainers, Gene Kelly. The first letter comes from an 81-year old man who wonders why the town of Pittsburgh, where Kelly was born and ran a dance studio with his mother and siblings, can’t find room in its heart to erect a statue honoring the song-and-dance legend. After all, the author cries, a town in Illinois, “recently unveiled a statue of Superman’s girlfriend, Lois Lane,” so surely, Kelly’s hometown can pay...
Read MoreOn Hollywood Stars and the Titles of Their Memoirs
The aim of the Hollywood star autobiographer is twofold and tension-filled: she must break and preserve her star image. In other words, she should reveal, Ruth Amossy maintains, both “her intimate self” (i.e., juicy personal details) and “the dream factory manufactured object” (i.e., the stereotyped image that lures fans) (676). For example, in her latest autobiography (she’s written three), By Myself and Then Some (2005), Lauren Bacall initially shatters her glossy, formidable star image by painting herself as insecure (mostly about her Jewish background and...
Read MoreStars and Scars
This entry is part 9 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses.This week, my Introduction to Film students and I are considering scars (and wounds) in Hollywood film and what they mean for the characters who bear them. As you might imagine, the marks figure differently on men and women. For example, many Hollywood films, classic and contemporary, attribute scars to women who are highly sexual and/or independent. For example, in Fritz Lang’s film noir The Big Heat (1953), Gloria Grahame’s character, the sexy mistress of a gangster, is brutally disfigured after her jealous lover throws...
Read MoreRecognizing Gender Representations in Introduction to Film; or When “I Never Realized” Becomes “Now I Will Notice It”
This entry is part 8 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses.Students in my traditional and online Introduction to Film courses take three exams, each of which includes at least four types of questions — clip, multiple choice, short answer, and identification — all designed to target the various learning styles that my 200+ students possess (e.g., visual, aural, kinesthetic, reading-writing). Here are some samples: Clip Question: Referencing any two of the eight “gender categories” that we covered in class, discuss in detail the representation of men/boys and/or...
Read MoreElation, Star Signification, and Singin’ in the Rain; or Why Gene Kelly Gets Me All Hot and Bothered
This entry is part 7 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses.Aside from my spouse, four guys can elicit from me feelings of sheer elation. Two are deceased, one resides in the U.K., and one begs for food every morning at 6:35 AM. Those who follow my Twitter stream and/or my Facebook Page will likely deduce that William Shakespeare and Colin Firth occupy two of these positions. My cocker spaniel Baxter is the hungry fellow, and the fourth is dancer/choreographer/director extraordinaire Gene Kelly. Consequently, when I saw that the Maumee Indoor Theatre would be screening Singin’ in the...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,