Palmer, Helen (2020) Sexual expression and the romantic ideal explored through an ‘American’ style of dance in dance-led dream ballets within Hollywood film musicals 1935-1956. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Preview

PDF WRAP_Theses_Palmer_2020.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (2100Kb) | Preview

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Dream ballets were a regular feature of Hollywood film musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, especially at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, but they have received limited academic study. An understanding and exploration of these dream ballets in the context of meaning created through dance and choreography is largely missing. There has been some critical debate about the nature of dream ballets within integrated film musicals but with limited understanding of dance as an abstract art form and its intention to communicate emotions. Mostly the existing scholarship offers psychoanalytic interpretation adapting ideas from Freud’s dream theory.

Focusing on dream ballets, this thesis will explore through primary research in American film archives and textual analysis, the creation of a new style of ‘American’ choreography and musical performance as core syntax within the integrated narrative musical. This research will examine how this new style and creative process impacted on the representation of male and female genders in dance, how it determined the internal dream protagonist’s perspective, and how the complex layering of codes was employed to avoid the Production Code Administration regulations. The first dream ballet identified within the corpus is a ballet featured in the Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) choreographed by Albertina Rasch. The final dream ballet identified within the corpus is ‘The Small House of Uncle Thomas’ ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins for The King and I (1956). The corpus includes over twenty musical films that include dream ballets.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Dance in motion pictures, television, etc. -- United States -- History, Musical films -- United States -- History and criticism, Choreography, Ballet dancing, Dreams in motion pictures
Official Date:	April 2020
Dates:	Date Event April 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Film and Television Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Gallafent, Edward
Sponsors:	Arts & Humanities Research Council (Great Britain) ; University of Warwick. Department of Film and Television Studies
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	413 leaves
Language:	eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads