Montgomery Clift, queer star / Elisabetta Girelli.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Girelli, Elisabetta.

Series:

Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series

Contemporary approaches to film and media series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gay motion picture actors and actresses--United States.

Gay motion picture actors and actresses.

Homosexuality and motion pictures--United States.

Homosexuality and motion pictures.

Queer theory.

Clift, Montgomery--Criticism and interpretation.

Clift, Montgomery.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Detroit : Wayne State University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Strikingly beautiful and exceptionally talented, Montgomery Clift was at the peak of his fame in 1956 when a devastating car crash nearly destroyed his face. While this traumatic event robbed him of his heartthrob status and turned him into a somewhat disturbing, socially alienated character, author Elisabetta Girelli argues that Clift had always combined on-screen erotic ambiguity with real-life sexual nonconformity. In Montgomery Clift, Queer Star she maps the development of Clift's subversive image over the span of his entire career, approaching Clift as a queer signifier who defied normative cultural structures.From the sexually ambivalent "beautiful boy" of his early films, to the seemingly asexual, transgressive, and often distressed man of his last years, Girelli argues that Clift shows remarkable consistency as a star: his presence always challenges established notions of virility, sexuality, and bodily "normality." Girelli's groundbreaking analysis uses queer theory to assess Clift's disruptive legacy, engaging with key critical concepts such as the closet, performativity, queer shame, crip theory, and queer temporality. She balances theoretical frameworks with extensive close readings of his performances and a consideration of how Clift's personal life, and public perceptions of it, informed his overall image as a deviant star and man.Montgomery Clift, Queer Star offers a comprehensive critical assessment of Clift through classic texts of queer criticism, as well as new interventions in the field. Scholars of gender and film, performance studies, queer and sexuality studies, and masculinity studies will appreciate this compelling study.

Contents:

Introduction

Montgomery Clift and queer theory

Irruption in Hollywood: the beautiful boy

The peak of stardom: desire, multiplicity, deviancy

The 1956 car accident and a new queerness

The final period: "abnormality," asexuality, asynchrony

Epilogue.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes filmography.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780814339244

0814339247

OCLC:

867742012