French Neo Classical

1000 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Burlesque meaning research paper

The French Neo Classical era of theatre has influenced today’s society in a number of ways including woman’s fashion, dance, architecture and theatre performance. We have seen this throughout history and it still has continued into today’s society.

The term Burlesque is usually thought of as slightly naughty theatre produced and performed between the 1700s and World War II. Webster defines it as a literary or dramatic work that seeks to mock by means of bizarre embellishment or comic imitation, mockery usually by caricature or theatrical entertainment of a broadly humorous often earthy character consisting of short turns, comic skits, and sometimes striptease acts. The word derives from the Italian burlesco, which itself derives from the Italian burla – a joke, ridicule or mockery. Today Burlesque has no meaning as a modern marvel to most Americans. Burlesque is far from the commonplace twentieth century definition. The entertainment known as Burlesque has had many different types of audiences. "Burlesque" has been used in English in this theatrical sense since the late 17th century. It has been applied with hindsight to the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare. A later use of the word, particularly in the United States, refers to performances in a variety show format. These were popular from the 1860s to the 1940s, often in clubs, as well as theatres, and featured vulgar comedy and female striptease. American burlesque shows were originally an offshoot of Victorian burlesque. They consisted of three parts: first they had comic sketches by low comedians, second they had male acts like acrobats, magicians and solo singers and third they had a burlesque in the English style on politics or a current play. The entertainment was...

... middle of paper ...

...shrieks. While the dance became less crude, the choreography has always tended to be a little risqué and somewhat provocative. Notable performers at the Moulin Rouge have included Ella Fitzgerald, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, and Frank Sinatra. The video with Christina Aguilera was filmed in the Moulin Rouge.

Works Cited

Burlesque. Dir. Steve Antin. Perf. Cher, Christina Aguilera. Screen Gems, 2011. DVD.

"French Neoclassical Theatre Movements." French Neoclassical Theatre Movements. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. .

Merriam Webster Dictionary. Springfield, Mass.: G & C Merriam co., 1981. Print.

Moulin Rouge. Dir. John Huston. Perf. José Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon. Mgm (Video & Dvd), 2001. DVD.

Nine. Dir. Rob Marshall. Perf. Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz. Sony Pictures, 2009. DVD.

Show More
Related

  • Hedwig and the Angry Inch

    1986 Words  | 4 Pages

    Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-31. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 11 May 2011.

    Read More

  • Breakin’, directed by Joel Silburg

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the movie, one sees how certain individuals perceive breakdancing to be similar to a comedy act. This is equivalent to the way that the hip hop industry has been perceived among society and in some ways explains why artists have to work so hard to make it.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Dispute

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    This production embraced more than just Greek and Elizabethan conventions, also incorporating elements of French Neoclassical comedy. It also demonstrated the survival of many elements of comedy, farce, and satire such as character types, repetition, derision, verbal wit, and slapstick. The production did not adhere to only one theatrical age, but it combined conventions from Greek, Elizabethan, and French Neoclassical

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Burlesque

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the course of instruction, I have gathered an understanding that Burlesque differs from other kinds of strip-tease in it’s humor and current commentary, sometimes specifically on social or political situations. The theoretical portion of the performance was the most entertaining part--the performance portion was a bit more difficult for me. As a sexual assault survivor, on-stage vulnerability (particularly involving the removal of clothing) will always been a challenge for me, but incorporating my feelings about those kinds of situations made the exercise more plausible. While any commentary on physical sexual assault is a long way off for me, other components (specifically verbal) are still a source of tension among society at large.

    Read More

  • Jaques Louis David

    1897 Words  | 4 Pages

    Set on a stage of revolution and Enlightenment, the Neo-Classical period presents a broad and interesting topic. Jacques Louis David was the first political painter, and a true revolutionary, but one cannot disengage his art work from the social and political systems of the period. Therefore, this essay will present an overview of the social context and systems of Pre Revolution France, Neoclassicism and how David’s work was influenced by it and how his work influenced it. Also important to note are the art work that influenced Neoclassicism.

    Read More

  • Romantic Period Classical Music

    1710 Words  | 4 Pages

    “To say the word romanticism is to say modern art - that is, intimacy, spirituality, color, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to the arts.” Charles Baudelaire. The Romantic era in classical music symbolized an epochal time that circumnavigated the whole of Western culture. Feelings of deep emotion were beginning to be expressed in ways that would have seemed once inappropriate. Individualism began to grip you people by its reins and celebrate their unique personalities and minds. Some youth began to wear their hair long, their beards scraggly and unkept, and their clothing was inspired by the outlandish and the flamboyant. Music morphed from a once tangible aural stimulant into music marked by its decent into the depths of human emotions most of which were not rational. Classical music became a stream of consciousness, a vehicle to convey their countless emotions. In the Romantic Period, music now voiced what, for centuries, people had been too afraid to express. The culture, the composers, and the music of the Romantic era changed classical music profoundly. The Romantic era classical music manifested itself as a time of the irrational and peculiar, a time that allowed many people the opportunity to express their inmost convictions through the music.

    Read More

  • Kathleen Casey's The Prettiest Girl On Stage

    1450 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kathleen Casey’s The Prettiest Girl on Stage is a Man: Race and Gender Benders in American Vaudeville kind of brings this essay full circle with its exploration of the adoption of gender and racial performances in American vaudeville, a popular form of entertainment during the early twentieth century. Vaudeville performances are characterized by physical humor, masquerade, and metamorphosis. This particular type of performance is not much different than “camp” explored in Newton’s Mother Camp, which emphasizes gay humor and theatrics. While camp is performed by drag queens, the vaudeville performers explored in Casey’s work perform gender in different ways. One of the four case studies in the book is that of Eva Tanguay who embodies female

    Read More

  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Imitation of Life

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    Films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Imitation of Life all possess strong performative elements that allow their viewers to evaluate the characters in the these films in somewhat unique ways. With these films, the term “performance” seems to be a relative. The primary female characters in both films perform both on and off the stage. The way these women perform off of the stage provides the viewer with an additional layer with which to understand them. This layer opens windows through which we can understand certain aspects of desire and femininity and a host of other qualities that we can evaluate.

    Read More

  • A Comparision of Andromache and Hernani

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    The French Revolution turned society upside down and, as many times before, literature and theater reflected the new society and way of life that came after the fall of the Bastille. The nineteenth century Romantic Movement looked to find ways to release poetry as well as theater from the binding rules of the previous centuries and Victor Hugo was at the forefront of this movement. His tragedy, Hernani, is very different from Racine’s Andromache written in the seventeenth century when the absolute authority of the king and the focus on duty were the guiding forces not only in society but in literature and theater as well. Differences between these two plays can be noticed through several elements, such as in their subject matters, religious ideas, staging and the presence or absence of the three unities, which reflect life before and after the French Revolution as well as how much it has affected society and traditions.

    Read More

  • American Musicals

    2773 Words  | 6 Pages

    The ‘old style’ musical theatre had no social conscience. Always presented in the traditional proscenium arch, the musical isolated the audience from new ideas and innovations. Due to televis...

    Read More

  • The French Revolution & Art

    2050 Words  | 5 Pages

    Oxford Art Online. “Neo-classicism & The French Revolution”. Oxford University Press. Web. 5th May 2013.

    Read More

  • How Does the Line Between High and Pop Culture Become Blurred?

    2013 Words  | 5 Pages

    DiMaggio, P. (1992). Cultural Boundaries and Structural Change: The Extension of the High Culture Model to Theater, Opera and the Dance, 1900-1940. Chicago. University of Chicago Press.

    Read More

  • Moulin Rouge: Gender Inequality

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baron, F., Brown, M., & Luhrmann, B. (Producers). Luhrmann, B (Director). (2001). Moulin Rouge. United States of America: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

    Read More

  • Commedia Dell' Arte and Moliere

    2389 Words  | 5 Pages

    Commedia Dell’ Arte was a distinctive form of stage art in the 1600’s and the famous playwright Moliere furthered its acceptance and import throughout his life. Originating in Italy, the popular art form spread quickly with the aid of traveling troops. One area that was greatly affected by this form of theater was France. The French people adored this theater and made it fit in with their culture. This can be seen in an essay by Gustave Lanson when he states, “In Paris Italian farce had replaced French farce.” The success of Commedia Dell’ Arte during the reign of Charles IX is well-known” (Lanson, 137). This effect can be seen through one of the country’s most famous playwrights, Moliere. Moliere was a renowned playwright and actor that continues to be well-known today. He was greatly influenced by Commedia Dell’ Arte. “Well-known definitions of the Commedia Dell’ Arte are that it was a semi-literary form of theatrical performance based primarily upon effective gestures and lazzi, and involving a limited number of generally accepted types who in their contrasting relation provide the setting for a light and flimsy action linked somehow by the eternal theme of love”( 704). His showing of the art form can be seen through his three most famous plays Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Imaginary Invalid. As Lanson stated, “From soiling the noble and pure conception of comic genius given to us by The Misanthrope and Tartuffe” (Lanson, 134). With the progression from an earlier play to his final play, we can see where Moliere used aspects of Commedia Dell’ Arte and where he veered away to fit his own personal tastes and that of France’s. Moliere was born Jean-Baptise Poquelin in 1622 to a father who was an upholsterer for th...

    Read More

  • Hernani, by Victor Hugo

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    The changes in technology gave lighting to the theatres. The change in theatre brought around a new group of audiences. Its change from Neoclassicism to Romanticism paved the way for plays such as Hernani. It’s understandable that nineteenth century theatre has changed dramatically.

    Read More

More about French Neo Classical

Open Document