Richard Lindsay

Hollywood Biblical Epics (eBook, PDF)

Camp Spectacle and Queer Style from the Silent Era to the Modern Day

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

This is the only book of its kind to explore biblical epics from an LGBT perspective, studying films from the silent era, to the postwar major studio era, to the present day.

In spite of restrictive Hollywood censorship regulations, filmmakers throughout history have pushed the boundaries of sex and violence when making religious films. In this unrivaled text, author and educator Richard Lindsay analyzes the relationship between bible-based epics and "camp"-films with overwrought acting, casts of thousands, and exotic sexuality. Lindsay presents the ways in which camp style identifies films as "biblical" in the mainstream imagination, while undermining their traditional religious messages through the inclusion of sexually diverse subtexts.

Viewed through this lens, this provocative book explores topics like the Jazz Age excesses of The King of Kings, the pre-code decadence of The Sign of the Cross, the horror movie tropes of The Passion of the Christ, and comparisons between Ben-Hur and the gay male fantasies of 1960s beefcake magazines. Additional content features the history of biblical epics and a comparison of the pious expectations of filmgoers against the real content of the films.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 232
• Altersempfehlung: ab 7 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 19. Juni 2015
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781440837531
• Artikelnr.: 68183868

Autorenporträt

Richard Lindsay, PhD, teaches communication at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: "It Is as It Was" Part I Parallel
Passion Plays: The King of Kings and The Passion of the Christ Chapter 1
The Scripturalization of The King of Kings and The Passion of the Christ
Chapter 2 The Camp King of Kings and the Monstrous Passion Part II Cold War
Camp in Midcentury Biblical Films Chapter 3 The Orgies of God:
Anti-Communist Gospel, the Gospel of the Production Code, and the Gospel of
Spectacle in Postwar Biblical Films Chapter 4 "You're Not a Well Woman,
Honey": Effeminate Villains in Biblical Films Chapter 5 Ben-Hur and the
Beefcake Bible Afterword Notes Resource Guide Index