Detroit: Wayne State University Press, c2014.
Call No: 732(5-011) HUM
Author: Revi, Gayatri (ed.); Rahman, Najat (ed.)
Source: US
Place: Detroit
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
PubDate: c2014
PhysDes: 282 pages ; 23 cm
Series: Contemporary approaches to film and media
Subject: AFGHANISTAN; ARAB COUNTRIES; AUDIENCE RECEPTION; BOLLYWOOD; CENSORSHIP; COMEDIES. MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES; CULTURAL IMPERIALISM. US; EGYPT; HUMOUR IN FILMS; INDIA; IRAN; IRAQ; ISRAEL; IRONY IN FILMS; NATIONAL CULTURE AND THE CINEMA; PALESTINE; POLITICAL FILMS; ETHNIC GROUPS IN FILMS; SATIRE IN FILMS; TYPE CHARACTERS IN FILMS; PAKISTAN; CHAHINE, YOUSSEF; DHOUIB, MONCEF; KIAROSTAMI, ABBAS; ZARHIN, SHEMI; AMERIKALI (TU, Serif Gören, 1993); BAD MA RA KHAHAD BORD (IR/FR, Abbas Kiarostami, 1999); DIVINE INTERVENTION (FR/MR/G/PA, Elia Suleiman, 2002); ALEXANDRIA... WHY? [ISKANDARIYA....LEEH?] (UA/AE, Youssef Chahine, 1978); ALEXANDRIA... WHY? [ISKANDARIYA....LEEH?] (UA/AE, Youssef Chahine, 1978); TELE ARRIVE, LA (TI, Moncef Dhouib, 2006); TERE BIN LADEN (II, Abhishek Sharma, 2010); TV IS COMING, THE (TI, Moncef Dhouib, 2006)
Summary: "While Middle Eastern culture does not tend to be associated with laughter and levity in the global imagination, humor—often satirical—has long been a staple of mainstream Arabic film. In Humor in Middle Eastern Cinema, editors Gayatri Devi and Najat Rahman shed light on this tradition, as well as humor and laughter motivated by other intent—including parody, irony, the absurd, burlesque, and dark comedy. Contributors trace the proliferation of humor in contemporary Middle Eastern cinema in the works of individual directors and from the perspectives of genre, national cinemas, and diasporic cinema. Humor in Middle Eastern Cinema explores what humor theorists have identified as an “emancipatory,” “liberatory,” even “revolutionary” function to humor. Among the questions contributors ask are: How does Middle Eastern cinema and media highlight the stakes and place of humor in art and in life? What is its relation to the political? Can humor in cinematic art be emancipatory? What are its limits for its intervention or transformation? Contributors examine the region’s masterful auteurs, such as Abbas Kiarostami, Youssef Chahine, and Elia Suleiman and cover a range of cinematic settings, including Egypt, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey. They also trace diasporic issues in the distinctive cinema of India and Pakistan. This insightful collection will introduce readers to a variety of contemporary Middle Eastern cinema that has attracted little critical notice. Scholars of cinema and media studies as well as Middle Eastern cultural history will appreciate this introduction to a complex and fascinating cinema." -- GOOGLE BOOKS
Notes: Contains bibliography and filmography -- contains index -- contains list of contributors
ISBN: 9780814339374
Contents: Introduction / Gayatri Devi and Najat Rahman -- Humor, loss, and the possibility for politics in recent Palestinian cinema / Najat Rahman -- Strategies of subversion in Ben Ali's Tunisia: allegory and satire in Moncef Dhouib's TV Is Coming / Robert Lang -- Satiric traversals in the comedy of Mehran Modiri: space, irony, and national allegory on Iranian television / Cyrus Ali Zargar -- Ethnic humor, stereotypes, and cultural power in Israeli cinema / Elise Burton -- The laughter of Youssef Chahine / Najat Rahman -- Comedic meditations: war and genre in The Outcasts / Somy Kim -- Humor and the cinematic sublime in Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us / Gayatri Devi -- America the oppressively funny: humor and anti-americanisms in modern Turkish cinema / Perin Gurel -- Laughter across borders: the case of the Bollywood film Tere Bin Laden / Mara Matta
