{"product_id":"its-all-in-the-delivery-pregnancy-in-american-film-and-television-comedy-hardback-9781477330432","title":"It's All in the Delivery; Pregnancy in American Film and Television Comedy (Hardback) 9781477330432","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eIt's All in the Delivery\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003ePregnancy in American Film and Television Comedy\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eVictoria Sturtevant (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781477330432, University of Texas Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 3 December 2024\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e248 pages, 50 b\u0026amp;w photos\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.454 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eWell written, clearly argued, full of fascinating ideas and thoughtful analysis, \u003ci\u003eIt’s All in the Delivery\u003c\/i\u003e indeed delivers a powerful and timely set of conclusions. Conceptually strong and well structured, with each chapter building thoughtfully upon its predecessor, the book covers a wide range of textual, narrative, sociocultural and political interventions into pregnancy in American film and TV comedy that will appeal to scholars and reproductive rights activists alike.\u003c\/div\u003e - Moya Luckett, author of Cinema and Community: Progressivism, Exhibition and Film Culture in Chicago, 1907-1917 \u003cdiv\u003eVictoria Sturtevant brilliantly captures American culture’s contractionary and complex attitudes toward pregnancy through thoughtful and astute analyses that are often as humorous as the texts on which she focuses. \u003ci\u003eIt’s All in the Delivery\u003c\/i\u003e incorporates an impressive (and exhaustive) range of examples from film and television. Given the number of texts she cites, I would not be surprised if she watched every television show and film that deals with pregnancy from 1896 through 2023 that she could get her hands on.\u003c\/div\u003e - Michele Schreiber, author of American Postfeminist Cinema: Women, Romance and Contemporary Culture \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eIt's All in the Delivery\u003c\/i\u003e addresses a startling gap in feminist media history by turning attention from parenthood to women’s bodies and experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, infertility, abortion. This book also offers a brilliant contribution to feminist comedy studies, illustrating how comedy has allowed this female experience to be represented in a variety of ways since the birth of cinema and-as argued with great wit in the Conclusion-how this female experience can generate comedy. Given the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that has brought reproductive issues to the forefront of our national psyche, this book’s exploration of how we have imagined and visualized reproduction over the past one hundred and twenty years is especially timely.\u003c\/div\u003e - Linda Mizejewski, author of Pretty\/Funny: Women Comedians and Body Politics \u003cdiv\u003eA long overdue look at the continuing struggle to address a most fundamental aspect of life.\u003c\/div\u003e (Library Journal, Starred Review) \u003cdiv\u003e[An] incisive study…The eye-opening history reveals a dispiriting and long-standing discomfort with discussions of reproduction while making a forceful argument for comedy’s ability to skewer taboos and expand public conversation. A perceptive take on how depictions of pregnancy have evolved since the mid-20th century, this enthralls.\u003c\/div\u003e (Publishers Weekly)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow changing depictions of pregnancy in comedy from the start of the twentieth century to the present show an evolution in attitudes toward women’s reproductive roles and rights.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Some of the most groundbreaking moments in American film and TV comedy have centered on pregnancy, from Lucille Ball’s real-life pregnancy on \u003ci\u003eI Love Lucy\u003c\/i\u003e, to the abortion plot on \u003ci\u003eMaude\u003c\/i\u003e; Murphy Brown’s controversial single motherhood; Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pregnancy in \u003ci\u003eJunior\u003c\/i\u003e; or the third-trimester stand-up special \u003ci\u003eAli Wong: Baby Cobra\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e In the first book-length study of pregnancy in popular comedy, Victoria Sturtevant examines the slow evolution of pregnancy tropes during the years of the Production Code; the sexual revolution and changing norms around nonmarital pregnancy in the 1960s and ‘70s; and the emphasis on biological clocks, infertility, adoption, and abortion from the 1980s to now. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Across this history, popular media have offered polite evasions and sentimentality instead of real candor about the physical and social complexities of pregnancy. But comedy has often led the way in puncturing these clichÉs, pointing an irreverent and satiric lens at the messy and sometimes absurd work of gestation. Ultimately, Sturtevant argues that comedy can reveal the distortions and lies that treat pregnancy as simple and natural “women’s work,” misrepresentations that rest at the heart of contemporary attacks on reproductive rights in the US. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Introduction. What to Expect When You’\u003cbr\u003ere Expecting (to Read This Book) \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Chapter 1. Confinements: Enter the Stork \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Chapter 2. Hysterical Fatherhood: Male Pregnancy On-Screen \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Chapter 3. Bad Pregnancies: Social Problems and Bad Seeds \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Chapter 4. Baby Bust: Infertility and Its Discontents \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Chapter 5. Shmashmortion: Terminating Abortion Stigma through Comedy \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Conclusion. It’\u003cbr\u003es All in the Delivery \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Acknowledgments \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Notes \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Index \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52591020507416,"sku":"9781477330432","price":63.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/its-all-in-the-delivery-pregnancy-in-american-film-and-television-comedy-hardback-9781477330432","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}