BROADCASTS.com

This week's Special Subject takes a look at Sex, Satire, and American Culture in Frank Tashlin's\xa0Artists and Models\xa0(1955), starring Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, and Dorothy Malone, and in Billy Wilder's\xa0Kiss Me, Stupid\xa0(1964), starring Dean Martin, Kim Novak, Ray Walston, and Felicia Farr. Tashlin uses comic books to portray American culture as a strangely sexless-yet-sex-obsessed idiot savant with an exuberantly violent imagination, while Wilder turns smut in a small town into an uncannily beatific examination of objectification and toxic masculinity in American popular culture. We also look at the way that Tashlin and Lewis turn signifiers of gender and sexuality into a richly indecipherable text that comments on the madness of heteronormativity and gender stereotypes.\xa0

Further Reading:

Elise\u2019s \u201cJerry Lewis and the Gender of Work.\u201d

Elise\u2019s \u201cBilly Wilder and the 1930s Romantic Comedy\u201d

Time Codes:

0h 01m 00s:\xa0\xa0\xa0 ARTISTS AND MODELS (1955) [dir. Frank Tashlin]

0h 45m 25s:\xa0\xa0\xa0 KISS ME, STUPID (1964) [dir. Billy Wilder]

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: \u201cSunday\u201d by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of\xa0The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise\u2019s latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave\u2019s new Robert Benchley blog \u2013 an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist\u2019s 2000+ pieces as he can locate \u2013 Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!\xa0

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