Busby Berkeley’s classic films of the 1930s were very popular and much imitated but they weren’t analyzed very much until recently. An online content search reveals that even reviewers’ discussions of the films tailed off gradually between the 1940s and the 1960s. The great classics were rarely seen until repertory movie houses, film festivals, andContinue reading “Busby Berkeley and the “Fascist Aesthetic””
Category Archives: Theory
The Comic Fetish and The Phallus Game
A core premise of this blog is that Comedy is based on a game I call “Phallus, Phallus, Who’s Got the Phallus?” or The Phallus Game. It’s based on the notion of a comic fetish. The core principle of a fetish is that it veils an absence, the absence of something that is deeply desired.Continue reading “The Comic Fetish and The Phallus Game”
The Comic Spirit
The basic premise of this blog is that comedies spin worlds in which the human condition is mediated by a spirit, the Spirit of Comedy. It is intangible, and inexpressible except in the embodied forms of comedy. Above all, it is a mischievous trickster spirit. The Comic Spirit intervenes in the best-laid plans (actually, theyContinue reading “The Comic Spirit”