Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes

Early slapstick films with titles like Saucy Sue, Mary Janes Mishap, Jane on Strike, and The Consequences of Feminism depict the tensions between joyful laughter and gendered violence. Feminist activists use slapstick antics as forms of protest, such as spontaneously combusting while doing housework, disappearing and reappearing when sexually assaulted, or transforming into men by eating magic seeds. Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes reveals the gender politics of comedy and the comedic potentials of feminism through close consideration of hundreds of silent films. It challenges the foundations of our ideas about slapstick comedy and film history, showing how this genre blows open age-old debates about laughter, society, and gender politics.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 27 March 2018
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Women burst forth from chimneys and dissolve when sprayed with soda water. Feminist activists engage in playful pranks to advocate for voting rights, while overburdened kitchen maids resort to dismembering their limbs to meet their deadlines. In the early slapstick films, such as Saucy Sue, Mary Janes Mishap, Jane on Strike, and The Consequences of Feminism, comediennes portray the interplay between joyful laughter and gendered violence. Slapstick comedy frequently revels in the exaggeration of imagined injury. Unlike their male counterparts, these comedic actresses employ slapstick antics as forms of feminist protest. They spontaneously combust while performing household chores, vanish and reappear when subjected to sexual assault, or transform into men by consuming magic seeds—and their absurd metamorphoses evoke the real-life struggles of female identity in a rapidly evolving modern world.
Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes delves into the gender politics of comedy and the comedic potential of feminism by closely examining hundreds of silent films. As Maggie Hennefeld contends, comedienne catastrophes offer unsettling yet suggestive visuals for understanding gendered social transformations in the early twentieth century. Simultaneously, slapstick comediennes played a pivotal role in the development of film language. Women's flexible physicality provided filmmakers with a blank canvas for exploring the visual and social possibilities of cinema.
Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes presents significant challenges to the established foundations of our understanding of slapstick comedy and film history. It demonstrates how this explosive genre disrupts age-old debates about laughter, society, and gender politics.

Weight: 490g
Dimension: 542 x 268 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231179478