1950s America
A01=Amanda Konkle
acting skill
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Amanda Konkle
America
American studies
archived studio reports
audience
audience anxieties
audience desires
audiences
Author_Amanda Konkle
automatic-update
calibrated performances
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=APB
Category=APFA
Category=ATC
Category=ATFA
Category=JBCC1
Category=JBCT
Category=JBSF1
Category=JFCA
Category=JFD
Category=JFSJ1
cinematic legacy
co authored persona
communications
contradictory discourses
COP=United States
critical reception
cultural
cultural debates
cultural mirror
culture
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fan magazines
fans
femininity
film
film performances
film roles
filmography
gender
gendered expectations
greatest actors
Hollywood icons
Hollywood publicity
identity
Language_English
Marilyn Monroe
marriage
media
Method acting
newspaper reports
PA=Available
performance
performance techniques
persona
political activism
postwar
postwar identity
Price_€100 and above
PS=Active
public persona
scholarly analysis
sexpot
sexpot persona
sexuality
softlaunch
Some Kind of Mirror
star
star construction
star persona
subtle variations
United States
women's roles
Product details
- ISBN 9781978802629
- Weight: 463g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 04 Feb 2019
- Publisher: Rutgers University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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Although she remains one of the all-time most recognizable Hollywood icons, Marilyn Monroe has seldom been ranked among the greatest actors of her generation. Critics have typically viewed her film roles as mere extensions of her sexpot star persona. Yet this ignores both the subtle variations between these roles and the acting skill that went into the creation of Monroe’s public persona.
Some Kind of Mirror offers the first extended scholarly analysis of Marilyn Monroe’s film performances, examining how they united the contradictory discourses about women’s roles in 1950s America. Amanda Konkle suggests that Monroe’s star persona resonated with audiences precisely because it engaged with the era’s critical debates regarding femininity, sexuality, marriage, and political activism. Furthermore, she explores how Monroe drew from the techniques of Method acting and finely calibrated her performances to better mirror her audience’s anxieties and desires.
Drawing both from Monroe’s filmography and from 1950s fan magazines, newspaper reports, and archived film studio reports, Some Kind of Mirror considers how her star persona was coauthored by the actress, the Hollywood publicity machine, and the fans who adored her. It is about why 1950s America made Monroe a star, but it is also about how Marilyn defined an era.
Some Kind of Mirror offers the first extended scholarly analysis of Marilyn Monroe’s film performances, examining how they united the contradictory discourses about women’s roles in 1950s America. Amanda Konkle suggests that Monroe’s star persona resonated with audiences precisely because it engaged with the era’s critical debates regarding femininity, sexuality, marriage, and political activism. Furthermore, she explores how Monroe drew from the techniques of Method acting and finely calibrated her performances to better mirror her audience’s anxieties and desires.
Drawing both from Monroe’s filmography and from 1950s fan magazines, newspaper reports, and archived film studio reports, Some Kind of Mirror considers how her star persona was coauthored by the actress, the Hollywood publicity machine, and the fans who adored her. It is about why 1950s America made Monroe a star, but it is also about how Marilyn defined an era.
AMANDA KONKLE is an assistant professor of film studies and English at Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong Campus in Savannah, Georgia.
