{"product_id":"free-and-easy-isbn-9781405194952","title":"Free and Easy?","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA History of the American Musical\u003c\/i\u003e narrates the evolution of the film musical genre, discussing its influences and how it has come to be defined; the first text on this subject for over two decades, it employs the very latest concepts and research.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eThe most up-to-date text on the subject, with uniquely comprehensive coverage and employing the very latest concepts and research\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eSurveys centuries of music history from the music and dance of Native Americans to contemporary music performance in streaming media\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eExamines the different ways the film musical genre has been defined, what gets counted as a musical, why, and who gets to make that decision\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eThe text is written in an accessible manner for general cinema and musical theatre buffs, whilst retaining theoretical rigour in research\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eDescribes the contributions made to the genre by marginalized or subordinated identity groups who have helped invent and shape the musical\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments vii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntroduction 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Overture: Musical Traditions before Cinema 11\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet: The Sound Revolution 35\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 Face the Music and Dance: The Depression 67\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Singing a Song of Freedom: World War II 97\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 There’s Beauty Everywhere: MGM and the Freed Unit 125\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Something’s Gotta Give: The Postwar Musical 147\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 Bustin’ Out All Over: The Rise of the Musical Blockbuster 175\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 In a Minor Key: The B Musical and Beyond 197\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9 The Sound of Money: Musicals in the 1960s 225\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e10 Whistling in the Dark: A Genre in Crisis 251\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e11 Can’t Stop the Music: Musicals and the New Hollywood 279\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e12 Just Like Scheherezade: Reviving the Musical Film Genre 307\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 335\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSean Griffin\u003c\/b\u003e is a Professor of Film and Media Arts at Southern Methodist University. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eTinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out\u003c\/i\u003e (1999). He is the editor of \u003ci\u003eHetero: Queering Representations of Straightness\u003c\/i\u003e (2009) and \u003ci\u003eWhat Dreams Were Made of: Movie Stars of the 1940s\u003c\/i\u003e (2011). He co-edited \u003ci\u003eQueer Cinema, The Film Reader\u003c\/i\u003e (with Harry M. Benshoff, 2005), and co-authored \u003ci\u003eAmerica on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality at the Movies\u003c\/i\u003e (Wiley Blackwell , 2009) and \u003ci\u003eQueer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America\u003c\/i\u003e (2006).\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFree and Easy? A Defining History of the American Film Musical Genre\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e narrates the evolution of this hugely popular genre from classical Hollywood studio days to contemporary independent cinema, music publishing, and the music recording industry. On the way, the book provides an engaging and comprehensive survey of music history beginning with the music and dance of Native Americans and moving right up to contemporary music performance in streaming media.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGriffin examines the different ways in which the film musical genre has been defined, what gets counted as a musical, why, and who gets to make that decision. The text expands beyond the glory days of MGM and the blockbuster Broadway adaptation to also reflect on sound experiments, short subjects and cartoons, foreign-language films, \"race movies\", documentaries, and contemporary independent cinema. There is in-depth discussion of how the genre has incorporated other forms of musical entertainment, such as folk music, vaudeville, musical theatre, and rock. It also describes the contributions made to the genre by a number of social factors, including marginalized or subordinated identity groups who have helped invent and shape the musical, and how the genre has in turn reflected issues of race, gender, sexuality, and class. Underlying this history is an examination of how the genre continually attempts to balance a celebration of individual freedom with efforts to bring people together in a joyous community.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47989243052261,"sku":"NP9781405194952","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781405194952.jpg?v=1761783348","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/free-and-easy-isbn-9781405194952","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}