The Caveman and the Machine

In this book Willis Peter Bilderback examines two
discursive
tendencies found in the American Musical Film during
the period
1929-1935. The first is a tendency toward the
technological
sublime as displayed by the films that Busby Berkeley
choreographed for Warner Brothers studios. The second
is the
eroticization of the primitive as found in a
significant number of pre-code Hollywood Musicals. Bilderback unpacks the
meaning of
these discourses through a close analysis of the
films, and by
referencing the cultural, economic and political
history of the United
States during the early part of the
twentieth-century, and the 1930s
in particular.

Bilderback finds a parallel between Fordist
production methods and
the kind of disciplines the body is subjected to in
Berkeley s
elaborate production numbers, that parallels the
American public s
own complicated, ambivalent relationship to
technology and
industry during the Depression. Additionally, he
finds in the eroticization of the primitive evident in many pre-code Musicals,
an alternative relationship to modernity in which the primitive is
imagined as modernity s vital, libidinal other.

Autorentext

Willis Peter Bilderback earned his Ph.D. from the Department ofCinema Studies at New York University in 2000. He is currently Senior ProgramCoordinator for Brown University's Institute for Brain and Neural Systems. He lives inRhode Island with his wife, Marjorie, his son, Will, and his daughter, Amelia.

Klappentext

In this book Willis Peter Bilderback examines twodiscursive tendencies found in the American Musical Film duringthe period 1929-1935. The first is a tendency toward "thetechnological sublime" as displayed by the films that Busby Berkeley choreographed for Warner Brothers studios. The secondis "the eroticization of the primitive" as found in asignificant number of "pre-code" Hollywood Musicals. Bilderback unpacks themeaning of these discourses through a close analysis of thefilms, and by referencing the cultural, economic and politicalhistory of the United States during the early part of thetwentieth-century, and the 1930s in particular.Bilderback finds a parallel between Fordistproduction methods and the kind of disciplines the body is subjected to inBerkeley's elaborate production numbers, that parallels theAmerican public's own complicated, ambivalent relationship totechnology and industry during the Depression. Additionally, hefinds in the "eroticization of the primitive" evident in many"pre-code" Musicals, an alternative relationship to modernity in which the"primitive" is imagined as modernity's vital, libidinal other.