The Big Top on the Big Screen

Explorations of the Circus in Film

Teresa Cutler-Broyles editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:McFarland & Co Inc

Published:27th Jan '20

Should be back in stock very soon

The Big Top on the Big Screen cover

Circuses and film are a natural pairing, and the new essays making up this volume begin the exploration of how these two forms of entertainment have often worked together to create a spectacle of onscreen alchemy. The films discussed herein are an eclectic group, ranging from early silent comedies to animated, 21st century examples, in which circuses serve as liminal or carnivalesque spaces wherein characters--and by extension audience members--can confront issues as far-reaching as labor relations, sensuality, identity, ethics, and more.

The circus as discussed in these essays encompasses the big top, the midway, the sideshow and the freak show; it becomes backdrop, character, catalyst and setting; and it is welcoming, malicious or terrifying. Circus performers are family, friends, foe or all of the above. And film is the medium that brings it all together. This volume starts the conversation about how circuses and film can combine to form productive, exciting spaces where almost anything can happen.

ISBN: 9781476671185

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 9mm

Weight: 231g

172 pages