Torturous Etiquettes : Film Performance and Social Form / Daniel Varndell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Varndell, Daniel, 1983- author.

Series:

SUNY series, horizons of cinema.

SUNY Series, Horizons of Cinema Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Etiquette in motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Europe.

Motion pictures.

Motion pictures--United States.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [2023]

Summary:

"Etiquette," as a noted toastmaster once pointed out, "is knowing how to yawn with your mouth closed"-that is, to spare the feelings of the other person, one must stifle one's own. To be polite, therefore, is to perform. Onscreen, closeups often reveal the effort that goes into maintaining that performance: with a fleeting frown or a slight scowl, an actor reveals the "torture" of mannered behavior. In Torturous Etiquettes, Daniel Varndell examines such gestures to reveal the difficulties of the social encounter. Drawing on the history of etiquette, the book deconstructs an array of examples from classical and contemporary Hollywood and European cinema, taking a close look at onscreen representations of rudeness, ridiculing, racist and sexist etiquettes, hospitality, table manners, and more. In doing so, it reveals etiquette to be a persistent theme in cinema and questions the role it plays in either upholding or denying the basic humanity of others.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Minding Manners

Speaking of Torture …

Performance, Inside-out

Part I Initiation

1 Close Encounters: Greetings

Say Thanks: Torturous Repetitions in Schindler's List

You're in My Space: Territorial Offenses in Cape Fear

Do You Mind? Codeswitching in Frost/Nixon

Hands Off: Contamination Fears in Philadelphia

You People … : Speech Violations in The Irishman

2 Home Invasions: Hospitality

Rooms within Rooms: Romeo and Juliet and Beguiled

Host(age): Funny Games

Frontiers of Shame: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Acknowledging Harry: A Bigger Splash

3 Crossing the Line: Embarrassment

Risky Banter in Gran Torino

Badly Done in Emma

Part II Exchange

4 No Joke: Humor

Mistiming in I Love You Phillip Morris

Mis-staging in Chinatown

Misunderstanding in Goodfellas

5 The Butler Did It: Service

Hand over the Table: Jezebel

Profaning the Table: Breaking Bakhtin's "Third Person"

The Dignity of The Butler

6 Racist Etiquette: Disservice

Volte-face: In the Heat of the Night

White Looks: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Author's Note

Part III Dissolution

7 Garments of the Mind: Clothes

Playing a Gentleman: Our Man in Havana

Born Gentlemen: DiCaprio's Conmen

A Burst of Color: Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation

Offending the Definitions: On Wearing Red

Seeing Red in Jezebel

8 Tabular Outrages: Dinner

Governed Appetites: Norbert Elias's Civilizing Process

Tabular Desecration: Hannibal

An Improper Attack: American History X

Dine with Me: Edward Scissorhands, Greystoke, and Babette's Feast

9 Tresses and Distresses: Intimacy

Tresses: Fixing

Distresses: Scalping

Conclusion: As Time Goes By

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438493497

1438493495

OCLC:

1385452106