Maria DiBattista
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300088151
- eISBN:
- 9780300133882
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300088151.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter takes a closer look at 1938's Bringing Up Baby in order to study the role of the female as pathfinder within adventurous screen comedies—the evolutionary trailblazer who is always seeing ...
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This chapter takes a closer look at 1938's Bringing Up Baby in order to study the role of the female as pathfinder within adventurous screen comedies—the evolutionary trailblazer who is always seeing things that never were and wanting things that are not yet. It looks at the film's fast-talking dame, Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), and the object of her sexual choice, Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant), and explores the zoomorphic humor that explores human behavior—especially human sexual behavior—as the developed instance of the rampant instincts enlivening the entire animal world. Within the film is represented an entire menagerie of human and animal types, comparing human to animal life. This comedy of a post-Darwinian and post-Freudian age provides an explanation closer to home regarding the sexual difference between men and women—compared, for example, to the popular proposition that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.Less
This chapter takes a closer look at 1938's Bringing Up Baby in order to study the role of the female as pathfinder within adventurous screen comedies—the evolutionary trailblazer who is always seeing things that never were and wanting things that are not yet. It looks at the film's fast-talking dame, Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), and the object of her sexual choice, Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant), and explores the zoomorphic humor that explores human behavior—especially human sexual behavior—as the developed instance of the rampant instincts enlivening the entire animal world. Within the film is represented an entire menagerie of human and animal types, comparing human to animal life. This comedy of a post-Darwinian and post-Freudian age provides an explanation closer to home regarding the sexual difference between men and women—compared, for example, to the popular proposition that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.
Joseph McBride
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142623
- eISBN:
- 9780813145242
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142623.003.0014
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Hawks reflects on the comedic attitude of his films, and his subtle incorporation of comedy into dramatic plots. Hawk credits Chaplin as his teacher of how to make comedy out of tragedy, and talks ...
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Hawks reflects on the comedic attitude of his films, and his subtle incorporation of comedy into dramatic plots. Hawk credits Chaplin as his teacher of how to make comedy out of tragedy, and talks about incorporating humor into scenes in Red River, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, The Big Sky, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, and Bringing Up Baby.Less
Hawks reflects on the comedic attitude of his films, and his subtle incorporation of comedy into dramatic plots. Hawk credits Chaplin as his teacher of how to make comedy out of tragedy, and talks about incorporating humor into scenes in Red River, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, The Big Sky, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, and Bringing Up Baby.
Joseph McBride
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142623
- eISBN:
- 9780813145242
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142623.003.0015
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses Hawks’ working relationship with Carey Grant and Katharine Hepburn. He talks about his penchant for making the woman character the dominant figure in romantic relationships on ...
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This chapter discusses Hawks’ working relationship with Carey Grant and Katharine Hepburn. He talks about his penchant for making the woman character the dominant figure in romantic relationships on screen, and the “Number Seven” method that he and Grant came up with when filming these scenes. He praises Grant’s work in His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, and I Was A Male War Bride, and describes working with Ann Sheridan (on I Was A Male War Bride).Less
This chapter discusses Hawks’ working relationship with Carey Grant and Katharine Hepburn. He talks about his penchant for making the woman character the dominant figure in romantic relationships on screen, and the “Number Seven” method that he and Grant came up with when filming these scenes. He praises Grant’s work in His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, and I Was A Male War Bride, and describes working with Ann Sheridan (on I Was A Male War Bride).
Joseph McBride
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142623
- eISBN:
- 9780813145242
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142623.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Howard Hawks (1896–1977) is the most versatile of all the great American directors, having worked with equal ease and brilliance in screwball comedies, Westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and ...
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Howard Hawks (1896–1977) is the most versatile of all the great American directors, having worked with equal ease and brilliance in screwball comedies, Westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and adventure films. Hawks on Hawks draws on interviews Joseph McBride conducted with the director over the course of the last seven years of his life, giving rare insight into Hawks’s artistic philosophy, his relationships with some of the major figures in Hollywood, and his position in an industry that was rapidly changing. Both an account of Hawks’s life and work and a guide to his insights on how to make movies, the book features the director’s refreshing candor as he gives pithy and often witty assessments of his own films, the work of other filmmakers, and his collaborators.Less
Howard Hawks (1896–1977) is the most versatile of all the great American directors, having worked with equal ease and brilliance in screwball comedies, Westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and adventure films. Hawks on Hawks draws on interviews Joseph McBride conducted with the director over the course of the last seven years of his life, giving rare insight into Hawks’s artistic philosophy, his relationships with some of the major figures in Hollywood, and his position in an industry that was rapidly changing. Both an account of Hawks’s life and work and a guide to his insights on how to make movies, the book features the director’s refreshing candor as he gives pithy and often witty assessments of his own films, the work of other filmmakers, and his collaborators.
