Charlene Fix

Harpo Marx as Trickster

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The author invites readers to spend time in the pleasure of Harpo's cinematic company while comparing him to tricksters from folklore, myth and legend. The book demonstrates how Harpo, the sweetest, wildest, most magical Marx brother, accomplishes the archetypal trickster's work. Thirteen chapters examine Harpo's trickster persona closely in each of the Marx Brothers' films: The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store, A Night in Casablanca and Love Happy. Harpo as trickster embodies luck, foolishness, cleverness, mania, hunger, lust, stealing, shape-shifting, gender-bending, alliance with underdogs, attacks on the powerful, musicality, sympathy for animals, magic and mischief. His trickster behaviors in all the films are woven into a composite impression that ""with a little luck, will resonate beyond the covers of this book and leak out into the world, making it a more just, flexible, resilient, amusing and magical place.""

Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland and Company, Inc.
• Seitenzahl: 232
• Erscheinungstermin: 18. Februar 2013
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 14mm
• Gewicht: 383g
• ISBN-13: 9780786471478
• ISBN-10: 0786471476
• Artikelnr.: 36596766

Autorenporträt

Charlene Fix is a professor of literature and creative writing at Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents Preface
1 Introduction
5
1.
The Cocoanuts (1929): Trickster Appears
19
2.
Animal Crackers (1930): The Professor Professes
30
3.
Monkey Business (1931): Not Quite Chevalier
39
4.
Horse Feathers (1932): Dogging Football
50
5.
Duck Soup (1933): Taking a Scissors to War
60
6.
A Night at the Opera (1935): Cleaning with Dirt
74
7.
A Day at the Races (1937): It's Gabriel
87
8.
Room Service (1938): Gimme Shelter, Food and Art
100
9.
At the Circus (1939): Swingali's Sneeze
109 10.
Go West (1940): Feeding the Train the Train 11.
The Big Store (1941): Mercantile Mayhem
135 12.
A Night in Casablanca (1946): Meta Marx
148 13.
Love Happy (1949): Trickster's Capstone or Hail and Farewell
159 Conclusion: A Retrospective Montage
173 Notes
211 Bibliography
216 Index
219