Ebook304 pages4 hours
Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
In the 1930s, Shirley Temple was heralded as “America’s sweetheart,” and she remains the icon of wholesome American girlhood, but Temple’s films strike many modern viewers as perverse. Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood examines her early career in the context of the history of girlhood and considers how Temple’s star image emerged out of the Victorian cult of the child.
Beginning her career in “Baby Burlesks,” short films where she played vamps and harlots, her biggest hits were marketed as romances between Temple and her adult male costars. Kristen Hatch helps modern audiences make sense of the erotic undercurrents that seem to run through these movies. Placing Temple’s films in their historical context and reading them alongside earlier representations of girlhood in Victorian theater and silent film, Hatch shows how Shirley Temple emerged at the very moment that long standing beliefs about childhood innocence and sexuality were starting to change. Where we might now see a wholesome child in danger of adult corruption, earlier audiences saw Temple’s films as demonstrations of the purifying power of childhood innocence.
Hatch examines the cultural history of the time to view Temple’s performances in terms of sexuality, but in relation to changing views about gender, class, and race. Filled with new archival research, Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood enables us to appreciate the “simpler times” of Temple’s stardom in all its thorny complexity.
Beginning her career in “Baby Burlesks,” short films where she played vamps and harlots, her biggest hits were marketed as romances between Temple and her adult male costars. Kristen Hatch helps modern audiences make sense of the erotic undercurrents that seem to run through these movies. Placing Temple’s films in their historical context and reading them alongside earlier representations of girlhood in Victorian theater and silent film, Hatch shows how Shirley Temple emerged at the very moment that long standing beliefs about childhood innocence and sexuality were starting to change. Where we might now see a wholesome child in danger of adult corruption, earlier audiences saw Temple’s films as demonstrations of the purifying power of childhood innocence.
Hatch examines the cultural history of the time to view Temple’s performances in terms of sexuality, but in relation to changing views about gender, class, and race. Filled with new archival research, Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood enables us to appreciate the “simpler times” of Temple’s stardom in all its thorny complexity.
Related to Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood
Related ebooks
Shirley Temple: A Biography of the Iconic Actress Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Girls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLucille: The Life of Lucille Ball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doris Day: A Biography of the Famous American Actress and Singer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Judy Garland on Judy Garland: Interviews and Encounters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Presence of Greatness: My Sixty-Year Journey as an Actress Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHome Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews: Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Curse of Beauty: The Scandalous & Tragic Life of Audrey Munson, America's First Supermodel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Real Story of Lucille Ball Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJudy Garland Biography: The Real Life of Dorothy from The Magical Land of Oz Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mommie Dearest Collection: Two Memoirs of Survival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lost Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Golden Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Summary of Carolyn Jessop's Escape Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUp in Lights: The Memoirs of a 1920s Chorus Girl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House's Ma Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5LIFE Lucille Ball Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pride and Prejudice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Julie Andrews: An Intimate Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of My Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Performing Arts For You
The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucky Dog Lessons: From Renowned Expert Dog Trainer and Host of Lucky Dog: Reunions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unsheltered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifth Mountain: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mash: A Novel About Three Army Doctors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whale / A Bright New Boise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood
Rating: 3.3333333333333335 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
3 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Shirley Temple and the Performance of Girlhood - Kristen Hatch
62^ book_preview_excerpt.html \ےq?R$"U a.$Cvw5w0|Az'K~ɬзQ fz꒕yArj[*-~ƴ-z_>>Azn~ݻ0ضxar/oacPu
MoCHq?aʫE~~!m[s5O0n\{f\ծ4ÏKYܢk]7;wI;8l3lza=~ӛneEo7dW_>p}q~.[WZBYVWů>w_سWL;_,hȸs0e⢈R]ns۷?tOz7҅&n}}AkYYO
Sx*3ت%&pCm>wWw?qӂӤ>w|v1VUs/nOAmm^@EN)66+hϺO,k^{ŏ-V|tA5TOlmٽ8~^Nh̾XY<K