First comes love : power couples, celebrity kinship, and cultural politics
Shelley Cobb (Editor), Neil Ewen (Editor)
"With the prominence of one-name couples (Brangelina, Kimye) and famous families (the Smiths, the Beckhams), it is becoming increasingly clear that celebrity is no longer an individual pursuit - if it ever was. In this light, First Comes Love explores celebrity kinship and the phenomenon of the power couple: those relationships where two stars come together and where their individual identities as celebrities become inseparable from their status as a famous twosome. Each chapter interrogates the ways these alliances are bound up in wider cultural debates about marriage, love, intimacy, family, parenthood, sexuality, and gender, in their particular historical contexts, from the 1920s to the present day. Interdisciplinary in scope, this collection seeks to establish how celebrity relationships have a particular role in dramatizing, disrupting, and reconciling often-contradictory ideas about coupledom and kinship formations"-- Provided by publisher
1 online resource : illustrations
9781628921199, 9781628921205, 9781501304699, 1628921196, 162892120X, 1501304690
911492530
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Contributors IntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK I. Golden Couples IntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK ‘Gilbo-Garbage’ or ‘The Champion Lovemakers of Two Nations’: Uncoupling Greta Garbo and JohnGilbertMichael Williams, University of Southampton, UK‘The Most Envied Couple in America in 1921’: Making the Social Register in the Scrapbooks of F.Scott and Zelda FitzgeraldSarah Churchwell, University of East Anglia, UK ‘Good Fellowship’: Carole Lombard and Clark GableMichael Hammond, University of Southampton, UK II. Kinships IntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK Filial Coupling, the Incest Narrative, and the O’NealsMaria Pramaggiore, Maynooth University, Ireland A Star is Born?: Rishi Kapoor and Dynastic Charisma in Hindi CinemaRachel Dwyer, SOAS, University of London, UK Eddie Murphy’s Baby Mama Drama and Smith Family Values: The (Post-) Racial Familial Politics of Hollywood Celebrity CouplesHannah Hamad, King’s College London, UK Momager of the Brides: Kris Jenner’s Management of Kardashian RomanceAlice Leppert, Ursinus College, USA III. Marriage IntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK Diana’s Rings: Fetishizing The Royal CoupleMargaret Schwartz, Fordham University, USA Behind Every Great Woman…?: Celebrity, Political Leadership, and the Privileging of MarriageAnthea Taylor, University of Queensland, Australia It’s the Thought That Counts: North Korea’s Glocalization of the Celebrity Couple and the Mediated Politics of ReformDavid Zeglen, George Mason University, USAEllen and Portia’s Wedding: The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage and Celesbianism Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK Audrey Hollander and Otto Bauer: The Perfect (Pornographic) Marriage?Beccy Collings, University of East Anglia, UK IV. Love IntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK The Return of Liz and DickSuzanne Leonard, Simmons College, USA ‘Brad & Angelina: And Now . . . Brangelina!’: A Sociocultural Analysis of Blended Celebrity Couple NamesVanessa Diaz, University of Michigan, USA Jane Fonda, Power Nuptials, and the Project of AgingLinda Ruth Williams, University of Southampton, UK The Making, Unmaking and Re-Making of ‘Robsten’Diane Negra, University College Dublin The Good, the Bad, and the Broken: Forms and Functions of Neoliberal Celebrity Relationships Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK Index