International Film Musical

APPROVED BY THE EDITORS Traditions in World Cinema General Editors: Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer Founding Editor: Steven Jay Schneider This series introduces diverse and fascinating movements in world cinema. Each volume concentrates on a set of films from a different national, regional or, in some cases, cross-cultural cinema which constitute a particular tradition. The International Film Musical Editors: Corey K. Creekmur and Linda Y. Mokdad ENDORSEMENTS TO FOLLOW Although the musical is one of Hollywood's best-known genres, the tradition of the film musical in world cinema remains largely unknown outside of the local or regional contexts in which it has often thrived. This is the first comparative consideration of the musical's role within national cinema traditions. While the musical is one of the cinema's few genuinely international genres, it has often functioned as an explicitly local or national form, drawing upon distinct traditions understood as 'native' rather than 'international'. At the same time, musicals from around the world have often imitated Hollywood models, resulting in their easy dismissal as culturally 'impure'. Indeed, as this anthology emphasizes, international film musicals vividly demonstrate the creative and ideological tension between promoting and abandoning traditional cultural forms and styles. This productive tension between local and global elements might be at the heart of international film musicals, which typically acknowledge the dominant Hollywood model while claiming their own cultural specificity. Key Features * Individual chapters provide succinct historical and critical discussions of musicals from sixteen major national film traditions, along with the transnational musical. * A coda by Rick Altman, one of the genre's most prominent scholars. Corey K. Creekmur is Associate Professor in the Departments of English and Cinema & Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa. Linda Y. Mokdad is Visiting Assistant Professor at Michigan State University.Creekmur, Corey K. is the author of 'International Film Musical', published 2011 under ISBN 9780748634767 and ISBN 0748634762.