Sex, Politics, and Comedy

Ernst Lubitsch (1982-1947) was one of the most successful and influential German filmmakers in American film comedy. In this volume, Rick McCormick argues for a more transnational view of Lubitsch's career and films with respect to nationality, ethnicity, migration, class, sexuality, and gender. McCormick focuses on Lubitsch's Jewishness, which is inseparable from the distinct transnational character of the director, categorizing his early films as "Jewish comedies" where Lubitsch strikes a tenuous balance between Jewish humor, antisemitic jokes, stereotypes, and the incorporation of antifascist subjects into his popular films. Above all, the larger political issues at stake in Lubitsch's work are brought forward: German-Jewish perspectives and experiences, the subtle treatment of covert political and social messages, and the relationship of comedy, especially sexual comedy, to emancipatory politics and, in particular, to the turbulent politics of Europe and the United States in the first half of the twentieth century.

Ernst Lubitsch (1982-1947) a fost unul dintre cei mai de succes si influenti regizori germani din comedia de film americana. In acest volum, Rick McCormick sustine o viziune mai transnationala asupra carierei si filmelor lui Lubitsch cu privire la nationalitate, etnie, migratie, clasa, sexualitate si gen.