Performance Studies

Even as actresses become increasingly marginalized by Hollywood, French cinema is witnessing an explosion of female talent - a Golden Age unlike anything the world has seen since the days of Stanwyck, Hepburn, Davis, and Garbo. In France, the joy of acting is alive and well. Scores of French actresses are doing the best work of their lives in movies tailored to their star images and unique personalities. Yet virtually no one this side of the Atlantic even knows about them. Viewers who feel shortchanged by Hollywood will be thrilled to discover The Beauty of the Real.

Performing Female Blackness examines race, gender, and nation in Black life using critical race, feminist and performance studies methodologies. This book examines what private and public performances of female blackness reveal about race, gender, and nation and considers how the land widely known as Canada shapes these performances.

Fascinating facts and first-person accounts highlight some of the most interesting jobs that take place behind the scenes in the music industry. Get a glimpse at what it takes to make it as a songwriter, producer, manager, and more and find out what goes on behind the glamour.

Who works in a theater? What is the green room? How do actors know where to stand on stage? Who controls the lights? Go on a guided tour of a theater to find out! Meet an actor and a director, see how the lighting works, hear the orchestra tune up, and watch as cast and crew get ready to perform.

If I were a ballerina, I would wear pointe shoes. I would stretch my legs and leap across the stage! Dream big, and see what fun it is to be a ballerina.

Giles' latest, and most raucous book, he takes "Generation Pussy" from the warm wet womb of "Pussville" to the rarefied air of "Mantown". This is definitely one of the most politically incorrect books to ever hit the market. It will most certainly offend the entitled whiners, but it will also be a breath of fresh air to young males who wish to be men instead of hipster dandies.

What makes Buffy the Vampire Slayer a "brave dame" but Ally McBeal a "wimpette"? In this witty, incisive look at the role of women on screen and page, Susan Isaacs argues that assertive, ethical women characters are losing ground to wounded, shallow sisters who are driven by what she calls, "the articles of wimpette philosophy."

The millions of fans who watch World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programs each year are well aware of their role in building the narrative of the sport. #WWE: Professional Wrestling in the Digital Age explores the intersections between media, technology, and fandom in WWE's contemporary programming and business practices. In the Reality Era of WWE (2011 to the present), wrestling narratives have increasingly drawn on real-life personalities and events that stretch beyond the story-world created and maintained by WWE.

Fans of the eccentric and edgy films of the Coen brothers know there's more going on in their films than meets the eye. Award-winning author and columnist Cathleen Falsani is the perfect guide for Coen fans, inviting them to take a deeper look at the popular films, from their debut Blood Simple to the recent Burn After Reading and all the strange and wonderful films in between.

How to overcome stage fright and performance anxiety and perform at your peak - using NLP and visualization.

If I were a movie star, I would jet to places around the world. I would wear fancy costumes and get my hair and make-up done. I would make audiences laugh and cry. Dream big, and see what fun it is to be a movie star.

In a captivating realm where cinematic narratives enchant countless viewers, how can one harmonize their faith with the craft of filmmaking? The Wages of Cinema encourages a deep dive into this relationship, drawing upon the significant reflections of Dorothy L. Sayers defending the authenticity of art and truth's manifestation.

It’s a fact that today some of our public school kids are struggling. We hear reports of test scores being down and kids don’t like to read as much as they used to. Now the schools are being charged with teaching more nontraditional skills, like social skills that involve social emotional learning, than ever before, to students less prepared than ever before.

The Boys in the Band's debut was revolutionary for its fictional but frank presentation of a male homosexual subculture in Manhattan. Based on Mart Crowley's hit Off-Broadway play from 1968, the film's two-hour running time approximates real time, unfolding at a birthday party attended by nine men whose language, clothing, and behavior evoke a range of urban gay "types." Although various popular critics, historians, and film scholars over the years have offered cursory acknowledgment of the film's importance, more substantive research and analysis have been woefully lacking. The film's neglect among academics belies a rich and rewarding object of study. The Boys in the Band merits not only the close reading that should accompany such a well-made text but also recognition as a landmark almost ideally situated to orient us amid the highly complex, shifting cultural terrain it occupied upon its release-and has occupied since.

Nanette no fue solo un espectáculo de stand-up insuperable, fue también un arrollador éxito viral que cautivó al público por su sinceridad desgarrada y por su habilidad para generar a un mismo tiempo tensión y risa. El éxito mundial de Gadsby podría hacernos creer que la fama le llegó de la noche a la mañana, pero el camino que la llevó a lo más alto de la escena internacional fue en realidad bastante tortuoso.

Eminent art historian and writer Edward Lucie-Smith discusses an ambitious digital art book series called 100 London Artists, designed to celebrate London as an art city.

In The Time of My Life, celebrated music journalist Andrea Warner excavates the layers of Dirty Dancing, from its anachronistic, chart-topping soundtrack, to Baby and Johnny’s chemistry, to Bergstein’s political intentions, to the abortion subplot that is more relevant today than ever. The film’s remarkable longevity would never have been possible if it was just a throwaway summer fling story. It is precisely because of its themes—deeply feminist, sensitively written—that we, over 30 years later, are still holding our breath during that last, exhilarating lift.

In his analysis of films, novels, paintings, photographs, popular music, jokes, and videos, Peter Lehman investigates the patriarchal culture that keeps the male body, and especially male genitals, out of sight.

Transforming Harry: The Adaptation of Harry Potter in the Transmedia Age is an edited volume of eight essays that look at how the cinematic versions of the seven Harry Potter novels represent an unprecedented cultural event in the history of cinematic adaptation.

Beyond Bombshells analyzes the cultural importance of strong women in a variety of current media forms. Action heroines are now more popular in movies, comic books, television, and literature than they have ever been. Their spectacular presence represents shifting ideas about female agency, power, and sexuality. This book explores how action heroines reveal and reconfigure perceptions about how and why women are capable of physically dominating roles in modern fiction.