Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture

Burlesque was a cultural threat, Allen argues, because it inverted the normal world of middle-class social relations and transgressed norms of proper feminine behavior and appearance. Initially playing to respectable middle-class audiences, burlesque was quickly relegated to the shadow-world of working-class male leisure. In this process the burlesque performer lost her voice, as burlesque increasingly revolved around the display of her body.
Locating burlesque within the context of both the social transformation of American theater and its patterns of gender representation, Allen concludes that burlesque represents a fascinating example of the potential transgressiveness of popular entertainment forms, as well as the strategies by which they have been contained and their threats defused.

Author: Robert Allen
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 05/27/1991
Pages: 370
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 0.95d
ISBN: 9780807843161

About the Author
Allen, Robert C.: - Robert C. Allen is James Logan Godfrey Professor of American Studies, History, and Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is author of Speaking of Soap Operas, coauthor with Douglas Gomery of Film History: Theory and Practice, and editor of Channels of Discourse, Reassembled and To Be Continued: Soap Operas Around the World.