Screen Couple Chemistry: The Power of 2 - Hardcover

Nochimson, Martha P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0292755783 ISBN 13: 9780292755789

Publisher: University of Texas Press, 2002

Synopsis

"A book that I read with great interest, often thrilling in its insights, Screen Couple Chemistry is an important piece of scholarship in the areas of gender and media studies...It significantly enlarges the conversation about a vital, overlooked, and still nebulous dimension of popular filmNthe transcendent movie couple and its power to articulate trenchant concerns through formula fiction." NDiane Negra, author of Off-White Hollywood: American Culture and Ethnic Female Stardom Astaire and Rogers, Tracy and Hepburn. Just the mention of their names evokes the powerful chemistry between these screen couples, which utterly transcended the often formulaic films in which they appeared together. Indeed, watching the synergistic flow of energy between charismatic screen partners is one of the great pleasures of cinema and television, as well as an important vehicle for thinking through issues of intimacy and gender relations. In this book, Martha P. Nochimson engages in a groundbreaking study of screen couple chemistry. She begins by classifying various types of couples to define what sets the synergistic couple apart from other onscreen pairings. Then she moves into extended discussions of four enduring screen couplesNMaureen OOSullivan/Johnny Weissmuller, Myrna Loy/William Powell, Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers, and Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy. Using theories of neuroscience, she demonstrates that their onscreen chemistry is a very real phenomenon, powerful enough to subvert conventional formulations of male/female relations. Material she has uncovered in the infamous Production Code Administration files illuminates the historical context of her contentions. Finally, Nochimson traces the screen couple to its present-day incarnation in such pairs as Woody Allen/Diane Keaton, Scully/Mulder of The X-Files, and Cliff/Claire Huxtable of The Cosby Show.

About this title

Review:

"A book that I read with great interest, often thrilling in its insights, Screen Couple Chemistry is an important plece of scholarship in the areas of gender and media studies.... It significantly enlarges the conversation about a vital, overlooked, and still nebulous dimension of popular filmNthe transcendent movie couple and its power to articulate trenchant concerns through formula fiction." Diane Negra, author of Off-White Hollywood: American Culture and Ethnic Female Stardom

About the Author:

Martha P. Nochimson has had a distinguished academic career, teaching at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and serving at Mercy College as the creator and first Chair of the film program. She is the author of five previous books, including The Passion of David Lynch: Wild at Heart in Hollywood.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0292755783
• ISBN 13: 9780292755789
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416