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Description

The Political Mel Brooks analyzes both Mel Brooks’s more popular films and his lesser known work to explore how his use of parody and satire, his keen sense of the history of Jewish comedic conventions, and his deep awareness of social issues encompasses a political project that, while often implicit, nonetheless speaks to the enduring political and social impact of his films. Brooks’s work often employs a nuanced political style that acts as a social commentary against those in power and in favor of oppressed and misunderstood persons.

This volume emphasizes Brooks’s political legacy and his masterful use of parody and satire to craft sophisticated political critiques of dominant culture. Contributors illustrate in a practical and accessible way how to explore how comedic films and television series can employ parody and satire not just to mock generic conventions, but also dominant political ideologies. Scholars of media, film, pop culture, political science, and communication studies will find this volume especially useful.

Table of Contents

Introduction: (Re)Discovering the Political Mel Brooks

Chapter 1: The Popular (and Political) Mel Brooks: A Selective Review of Scholarship and Criticism

Chapter 2: “Where the White Women At?” Demolishing the Myth of the West

Chapter 3: “A Torch to Light the Way”: The Visual Rhetoric of Blazing Saddles

Chapter 4: The Very Rotten 1970s: Mel Brooks’s Satire of Politics in the Age of Ford

Chapter 5: Not Just a Dresser: To Be or Not to Be and the Case of Sasha Kinski

Chapter 6: Spaceballs as Mel Brooks’s Parodic Prophecy of Franchise Fascism

Chapter 7: The Framing of Poverty in Mel Brooks’s Life Stinks: A Content and Textual Analysis

Chapter 8: What a Meshugenner! Mel Brooks’s Politics of Jewish Humor

Chapter 9: “When You Got It, Flaunt It”: White Masculinity and Sexuality in The Producers (2005)

Chapter 10: “We’re Both Short Jews. That’s Where It Ends.”: The Problematics of Comparing Mel Brooks and Woody Allen

Product details

Published Jun 07 2019
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 208
ISBN 9781498586719
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Samuel Boerboom

Anthology Editor

Beth E. Bonnstetter

Contributor

Melissa Boehm

Contributor

Samuel Boerboom

Contributor

Matthew R. Meier

Matthew R. Meier is Assistant Professor and Gradua…

ONLINE RESOURCES

Bloomsbury Collections

This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.

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