Category Archives: Devi’s Discourse
Male Domination in 1960s Rom-Coms
In the Sex Comedies of the 1950s, we saw manipulative men going to extreme and often toxic measures to lure reluctant women into bed. However, by 1960, with the emergence of the birth control pill and the sexual revolution (not to mention Kinsey’s earlier report declaring, “Yes, people, women actually do have and enjoy sex), […]
1950s Sex Comedies: The Unromantic Rise of Toxic Masculinity
By the late 1940s, romantic comedies began transitioning into a new subgenre, retaining a few of the signature screwball traits but with a definite shift of tenor. Instead of the playful sparring that brought females and males together, the contention between them grew less amicable and, in some cases, downright mean-spirited, gradually driving them further […]
As a filmmaker who has directed documentaries, and an academic who has taught theory classes about them, I watch programs that are labeled “non-fiction” with a wary and critical eye, aware of how audio-visual presentations can manipulate what we see, what we don’t see and how we see or don’t see events and claims presented […]