Laughing Mad

Laughing Mad

Author: Bambi Haggins

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780813539850

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Laughing Mad , Bambi Haggins looks at how this transition occurred in a variety of media and shows how this integration has paved the way for black comedians and their audiences to affect each other. Historically, African American performers have been able to use comedy as a pedagogic tool, interjecting astute observations about race relations while the audience is laughing. And yet, Haggins makes the convincing argument that the potential of African American comedy remains fundamentally unfulfilled as the performance of blackness continues to be made culturally digestible for mass consumption.


Book Synopsis Laughing Mad by : Bambi Haggins

Download or read book Laughing Mad written by Bambi Haggins and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Laughing Mad , Bambi Haggins looks at how this transition occurred in a variety of media and shows how this integration has paved the way for black comedians and their audiences to affect each other. Historically, African American performers have been able to use comedy as a pedagogic tool, interjecting astute observations about race relations while the audience is laughing. And yet, Haggins makes the convincing argument that the potential of African American comedy remains fundamentally unfulfilled as the performance of blackness continues to be made culturally digestible for mass consumption.


Laughing Fit to Kill

Laughing Fit to Kill

Author: Glenda Carpio

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-07-01

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0190293977

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Reassessing the meanings of "black humor" and "dark satire," Laughing Fit to Kill illustrates how black comedians, writers, and artists have deftly deployed various modes of comedic "conjuring"--the absurd, the grotesque, and the strategic expression of racial stereotypes--to redress not only the past injustices of slavery and racism in America but also their legacy in the present. Focusing on representations of slavery in the post-civil rights era, Carpio explores stereotypes in Richard Pryor's groundbreaking stand-up act and the outrageous comedy of Chappelle's Show to demonstrate how deeply indebted they are to the sly social criticism embedded in the profoundly ironic nineteenth-century fiction of William Wells Brown and Charles W. Chesnutt. Similarly, she reveals how the iconoclastic literary works of Ishmael Reed and Suzan-Lori Parks use satire, hyperbole, and burlesque humor to represent a violent history and to take on issues of racial injustice. With an abundance of illustrations, Carpio also extends her discussion of radical black comedy to the visual arts as she reveals how the use of subversive appropriation by Kara Walker and Robert Colescott cleverly lampoons the iconography of slavery. Ultimately, Laughing Fit to Kill offers a unique look at the bold, complex, and just plain funny ways that African American artists have used laughter to critique slavery's dark legacy.


Book Synopsis Laughing Fit to Kill by : Glenda Carpio

Download or read book Laughing Fit to Kill written by Glenda Carpio and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reassessing the meanings of "black humor" and "dark satire," Laughing Fit to Kill illustrates how black comedians, writers, and artists have deftly deployed various modes of comedic "conjuring"--the absurd, the grotesque, and the strategic expression of racial stereotypes--to redress not only the past injustices of slavery and racism in America but also their legacy in the present. Focusing on representations of slavery in the post-civil rights era, Carpio explores stereotypes in Richard Pryor's groundbreaking stand-up act and the outrageous comedy of Chappelle's Show to demonstrate how deeply indebted they are to the sly social criticism embedded in the profoundly ironic nineteenth-century fiction of William Wells Brown and Charles W. Chesnutt. Similarly, she reveals how the iconoclastic literary works of Ishmael Reed and Suzan-Lori Parks use satire, hyperbole, and burlesque humor to represent a violent history and to take on issues of racial injustice. With an abundance of illustrations, Carpio also extends her discussion of radical black comedy to the visual arts as she reveals how the use of subversive appropriation by Kara Walker and Robert Colescott cleverly lampoons the iconography of slavery. Ultimately, Laughing Fit to Kill offers a unique look at the bold, complex, and just plain funny ways that African American artists have used laughter to critique slavery's dark legacy.


Mythology, Madness, and Laughter

Mythology, Madness, and Laughter

Author: Markus Gabriel

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2009-10-02

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1441115773

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Mythology, Madness and Laughter: Subjectivity in German Idealism explores some long neglected but crucial themes in German idealism. Markus Gabriel, one of the most exciting young voices in contemporary philosophy, and Slavoj Žižek, the celebrated contemporary philosopher and cultural critic, show how these themes impact on the problematic relations between being and appearance, reflection and the absolute, insight and ideology, contingency and necessity, subjectivity, truth, habit and freedom. Engaging with three central figures of the German idealist movement, Hegel, Schelling, and Fichte, Gabriel, and Žižek, who here shows himself to be one of the most erudite and important scholars of German idealism, ask how is it possible for Being to appear in reflection without falling back into traditional metaphysics. By applying idealistic theories of reflection and concrete subjectivity, including the problem of madness and everydayness in Hegel, this hugely important book aims to reinvigorate a philosophy of finitude and contingency, topics at the forefront of contemporary European philosophy. MARKUS GABRIEL is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, NY. He has published a number of books and journal articles in German, including Der Mensch im Mythos (De Gruyter, 2006), and Das Absolute und die Welt in Schellings Freiheitsschrift (Bonn University Press, 2006).


Book Synopsis Mythology, Madness, and Laughter by : Markus Gabriel

Download or read book Mythology, Madness, and Laughter written by Markus Gabriel and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2009-10-02 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mythology, Madness and Laughter: Subjectivity in German Idealism explores some long neglected but crucial themes in German idealism. Markus Gabriel, one of the most exciting young voices in contemporary philosophy, and Slavoj Žižek, the celebrated contemporary philosopher and cultural critic, show how these themes impact on the problematic relations between being and appearance, reflection and the absolute, insight and ideology, contingency and necessity, subjectivity, truth, habit and freedom. Engaging with three central figures of the German idealist movement, Hegel, Schelling, and Fichte, Gabriel, and Žižek, who here shows himself to be one of the most erudite and important scholars of German idealism, ask how is it possible for Being to appear in reflection without falling back into traditional metaphysics. By applying idealistic theories of reflection and concrete subjectivity, including the problem of madness and everydayness in Hegel, this hugely important book aims to reinvigorate a philosophy of finitude and contingency, topics at the forefront of contemporary European philosophy. MARKUS GABRIEL is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, NY. He has published a number of books and journal articles in German, including Der Mensch im Mythos (De Gruyter, 2006), and Das Absolute und die Welt in Schellings Freiheitsschrift (Bonn University Press, 2006).


ReFocus: The Films of Michel Gondry

ReFocus: The Films of Michel Gondry

Author: Marcelline Block

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2020-09-21

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1474456030

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, a range of international scholars offers a comprehensive study of this significant and influential figure, covering his French and English-language films and videos, and framing Gondry as a transnational auteur whose work provides insight into both French/European and American cinematic and cultural identity.


Book Synopsis ReFocus: The Films of Michel Gondry by : Marcelline Block

Download or read book ReFocus: The Films of Michel Gondry written by Marcelline Block and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-21 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, a range of international scholars offers a comprehensive study of this significant and influential figure, covering his French and English-language films and videos, and framing Gondry as a transnational auteur whose work provides insight into both French/European and American cinematic and cultural identity.


How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind

How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind

Author: La Marr Jurelle Bruce

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2021-04-26

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1478012420

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“Hold tight. The way to go mad without losing your mind is sometimes unruly.” So begins La Marr Jurelle Bruce's urgent provocation and poignant meditation on madness in black radical art. Bruce theorizes four overlapping meanings of madness: the lived experience of an unruly mind, the psychiatric category of serious mental illness, the emotional state also known as “rage,” and any drastic deviation from psychosocial norms. With care and verve, he explores the mad in the literature of Amiri Baraka, Gayl Jones, and Ntozake Shange; in the jazz repertoires of Buddy Bolden, Sun Ra, and Charles Mingus; in the comedic performances of Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle; in the protest music of Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, and Kendrick Lamar, and beyond. These artists activate madness as content, form, aesthetic, strategy, philosophy, and energy in an enduring black radical tradition. Joining this tradition, Bruce mobilizes a set of interpretive practices, affective dispositions, political principles, and existential orientations that he calls “mad methodology.” Ultimately, How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind is both a study and an act of critical, ethical, radical madness.


Book Synopsis How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind by : La Marr Jurelle Bruce

Download or read book How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind written by La Marr Jurelle Bruce and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-26 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Hold tight. The way to go mad without losing your mind is sometimes unruly.” So begins La Marr Jurelle Bruce's urgent provocation and poignant meditation on madness in black radical art. Bruce theorizes four overlapping meanings of madness: the lived experience of an unruly mind, the psychiatric category of serious mental illness, the emotional state also known as “rage,” and any drastic deviation from psychosocial norms. With care and verve, he explores the mad in the literature of Amiri Baraka, Gayl Jones, and Ntozake Shange; in the jazz repertoires of Buddy Bolden, Sun Ra, and Charles Mingus; in the comedic performances of Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle; in the protest music of Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, and Kendrick Lamar, and beyond. These artists activate madness as content, form, aesthetic, strategy, philosophy, and energy in an enduring black radical tradition. Joining this tradition, Bruce mobilizes a set of interpretive practices, affective dispositions, political principles, and existential orientations that he calls “mad methodology.” Ultimately, How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind is both a study and an act of critical, ethical, radical madness.


Death by Laughter

Death by Laughter

Author: Maggie Hennefeld

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2024-03-19

Total Pages: 634

ISBN-13: 023155981X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Can you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate—or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries would have us believe. How could laughter be fatal, and what do these reports of women’s risible deaths tell us about the politics of female joy? Maggie Hennefeld reveals the forgotten histories of “hysterical laughter,” exploring how women’s amusement has been theorized and demonized, suppressed and exploited. In nineteenth-century medicine and culture, hysteria was an ailment that afflicted unruly women on the cusp of emotional or nervous breakdown. Cinema, Hennefeld argues, made it possible for women to laugh outrageously as never before, with irreversible social and political consequences. As female enjoyment became a surefire promise of profitability, alarmist tales of women laughing themselves to death epitomized the tension between subversive pleasure and its violent repression. Hennefeld traces the social politics of women’s laughter from the heyday of nineteenth-century sentimentalism to the collective euphoria of early film spectatorship, traversing contagious dancing outbreaks, hysteria photography, madwomen’s cackling, cinematic close-ups, and screenings of slapstick movies in mental asylums. Placing little-known silent films and an archive of remarkable, often unusual texts in conversation with affect theory, comedy studies, and feminist film theory, this book makes a timely case for the power of hysterical laughter to change the world.


Book Synopsis Death by Laughter by : Maggie Hennefeld

Download or read book Death by Laughter written by Maggie Hennefeld and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate—or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries would have us believe. How could laughter be fatal, and what do these reports of women’s risible deaths tell us about the politics of female joy? Maggie Hennefeld reveals the forgotten histories of “hysterical laughter,” exploring how women’s amusement has been theorized and demonized, suppressed and exploited. In nineteenth-century medicine and culture, hysteria was an ailment that afflicted unruly women on the cusp of emotional or nervous breakdown. Cinema, Hennefeld argues, made it possible for women to laugh outrageously as never before, with irreversible social and political consequences. As female enjoyment became a surefire promise of profitability, alarmist tales of women laughing themselves to death epitomized the tension between subversive pleasure and its violent repression. Hennefeld traces the social politics of women’s laughter from the heyday of nineteenth-century sentimentalism to the collective euphoria of early film spectatorship, traversing contagious dancing outbreaks, hysteria photography, madwomen’s cackling, cinematic close-ups, and screenings of slapstick movies in mental asylums. Placing little-known silent films and an archive of remarkable, often unusual texts in conversation with affect theory, comedy studies, and feminist film theory, this book makes a timely case for the power of hysterical laughter to change the world.


Whiting Up

Whiting Up

Author: Marvin Edward McAllister

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0807835080

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the early 1890s, black performer Bob Cole turned blackface minstrelsy on its head with his nationally recognized whiteface creation, a character he called Willie Wayside. Just over a century later, hiphop star Busta Rhymes performed a whiteface superco


Book Synopsis Whiting Up by : Marvin Edward McAllister

Download or read book Whiting Up written by Marvin Edward McAllister and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 1890s, black performer Bob Cole turned blackface minstrelsy on its head with his nationally recognized whiteface creation, a character he called Willie Wayside. Just over a century later, hiphop star Busta Rhymes performed a whiteface superco


Dyer Street Punk Witches

Dyer Street Punk Witches

Author: Phil Williams

Publisher: Rumian Publishing

Published: 2022-09-12

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1913468151

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Kit hung up her brass knuckles, but the shadows of her past lingered. Now they're back to claim her. Kit "Fadulous" Hamley, magazine editor, activist and former punk rocker, is a well-known troublemaker. She works tirelessly to hold local authorities to account. Some say she's making up for her criminal youth. Others accuse her of witchcraft. Only a handful of people know how dark her secrets really are. When an old friend warns Kit that a former rival has resurfaced, those secrets start to resurface. People have gone missing, someone is stalking Kit, and the gang she abandoned are scared stiff. Kit herself is a target, and if she can't unravel exactly how this new feud connects with her past mistakes, it could kill her. Decades older, a little wiser, and contrary as ever, Kit's going to remind them all what a punk witch can do. Get ready to enter a world of magic, rebellion, and punk rock. With its electrifying energy, fierce female characters and tense twists, this book will have you cheering for the witches of Dyer Street, whether you're a fan of fantasy or a rebel at heart. Pick up your copy today – you won't be able to put it down. *This is a standalone thriller – you don't need to have read the other Ordshaw books to enjoy it!* What reviewers are saying about Dyer Street: "If you're looking for a different type of witchy read this spooky season, I highly suggest giving this beauty of a book a chance. Loved it." - Whispers & Wonder "What a great story! ... my new favourite entry into the Ordshaw Universe – the characters made this one a huge win" - Queen's Book Asylum "I loved this book...an easy story to fly through" – Beckys Books "a refreshingly dark, thrilling and funny contemporary fantasy!" – Dini Panda Reads "My favourite Ordshaw adventure yet...the perfect mix of elements" – Lynn's Books "fantastically well written with excellent pacing" – Damien Larkin, Author "fast-paced and fascinating. There are realistic characters that grabbed my attention and held me hostage until the last page...I throughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it!" – Ami, Reader Review "Phil Williams has nailed it yet again" – Phil Parker, Author "cranked to 11 all the way through, and that's just how I like it" – Travis M. Riddle, Author "An excellent, very well-written story, with a diverse mix of unique and fascinating characters." – Adawia, Reader Review "a fantastic return to Ordshaw" – Dream Come Review "Badass young women working to use magic and music to change their lives and their neighborhood? Yes, please!" -–Heather Barksdale


Book Synopsis Dyer Street Punk Witches by : Phil Williams

Download or read book Dyer Street Punk Witches written by Phil Williams and published by Rumian Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-12 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kit hung up her brass knuckles, but the shadows of her past lingered. Now they're back to claim her. Kit "Fadulous" Hamley, magazine editor, activist and former punk rocker, is a well-known troublemaker. She works tirelessly to hold local authorities to account. Some say she's making up for her criminal youth. Others accuse her of witchcraft. Only a handful of people know how dark her secrets really are. When an old friend warns Kit that a former rival has resurfaced, those secrets start to resurface. People have gone missing, someone is stalking Kit, and the gang she abandoned are scared stiff. Kit herself is a target, and if she can't unravel exactly how this new feud connects with her past mistakes, it could kill her. Decades older, a little wiser, and contrary as ever, Kit's going to remind them all what a punk witch can do. Get ready to enter a world of magic, rebellion, and punk rock. With its electrifying energy, fierce female characters and tense twists, this book will have you cheering for the witches of Dyer Street, whether you're a fan of fantasy or a rebel at heart. Pick up your copy today – you won't be able to put it down. *This is a standalone thriller – you don't need to have read the other Ordshaw books to enjoy it!* What reviewers are saying about Dyer Street: "If you're looking for a different type of witchy read this spooky season, I highly suggest giving this beauty of a book a chance. Loved it." - Whispers & Wonder "What a great story! ... my new favourite entry into the Ordshaw Universe – the characters made this one a huge win" - Queen's Book Asylum "I loved this book...an easy story to fly through" – Beckys Books "a refreshingly dark, thrilling and funny contemporary fantasy!" – Dini Panda Reads "My favourite Ordshaw adventure yet...the perfect mix of elements" – Lynn's Books "fantastically well written with excellent pacing" – Damien Larkin, Author "fast-paced and fascinating. There are realistic characters that grabbed my attention and held me hostage until the last page...I throughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it!" – Ami, Reader Review "Phil Williams has nailed it yet again" – Phil Parker, Author "cranked to 11 all the way through, and that's just how I like it" – Travis M. Riddle, Author "An excellent, very well-written story, with a diverse mix of unique and fascinating characters." – Adawia, Reader Review "a fantastic return to Ordshaw" – Dream Come Review "Badass young women working to use magic and music to change their lives and their neighborhood? Yes, please!" -–Heather Barksdale


The Comedy of Dave Chappelle

The Comedy of Dave Chappelle

Author: K.A. Wisniewski

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 078645427X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Perhaps best known for his highly acclaimed, short-lived Comedy Central program Chappelle's Show, Dave Chappelle is widely regarded as one of today's most culturally significant comedians. Through the sketch comedy show and his stand-up act, Chappelle has offered truly memorable commentary on racial and ethnic tensions in American society. This book assembles 13 essays that examine motifs common in Chappelle's comedy, including technology and digital culture; race, gender, and ethnicity; economics and politics; music, television, film, and performance; and memory, language, and identity.


Book Synopsis The Comedy of Dave Chappelle by : K.A. Wisniewski

Download or read book The Comedy of Dave Chappelle written by K.A. Wisniewski and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps best known for his highly acclaimed, short-lived Comedy Central program Chappelle's Show, Dave Chappelle is widely regarded as one of today's most culturally significant comedians. Through the sketch comedy show and his stand-up act, Chappelle has offered truly memorable commentary on racial and ethnic tensions in American society. This book assembles 13 essays that examine motifs common in Chappelle's comedy, including technology and digital culture; race, gender, and ethnicity; economics and politics; music, television, film, and performance; and memory, language, and identity.


Music and Sound in the Worlds of Michel Gondry

Music and Sound in the Worlds of Michel Gondry

Author: Kate McQuiston

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-26

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1000244563

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Michel Gondry’s directorial work buzzes with playfulness and invention: in a body of work that includes feature films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, to music videos, commercials, television episodes, and documentaries, he has experimented with blending animation and live action, complex narrative structures, and philosophical subject matter. Central to that experimentation is Gondry’s use of music and sound, which this book addresses in a new detailed study. Kate McQuiston examines the hybrid nature of Gondry’s work, his process of collaboration, how he uses sound and music to create a highly stylized reinforcement of often-elusive subjects such as psychology, dreams, the loss of memory, and the fraught relationship between humans and the environment. This concise volume provides new insight into Gondry’s richly creative multimedia productions, and their distinctive use of the soundtrack.


Book Synopsis Music and Sound in the Worlds of Michel Gondry by : Kate McQuiston

Download or read book Music and Sound in the Worlds of Michel Gondry written by Kate McQuiston and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-26 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michel Gondry’s directorial work buzzes with playfulness and invention: in a body of work that includes feature films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, to music videos, commercials, television episodes, and documentaries, he has experimented with blending animation and live action, complex narrative structures, and philosophical subject matter. Central to that experimentation is Gondry’s use of music and sound, which this book addresses in a new detailed study. Kate McQuiston examines the hybrid nature of Gondry’s work, his process of collaboration, how he uses sound and music to create a highly stylized reinforcement of often-elusive subjects such as psychology, dreams, the loss of memory, and the fraught relationship between humans and the environment. This concise volume provides new insight into Gondry’s richly creative multimedia productions, and their distinctive use of the soundtrack.