Margins
Horrible Prettiness book cover
Horrible Prettiness
Burlesque and American Culture
1982
First Published
3.90
Average Rating
370
Number of Pages

Burlesque was a cultural threat, Allen argues, because it inverted the "normal" world of middle-class social relations and transgressed norms of "proper" feminine behavior and appearance. Initially playing to respectable middle-class audiences, burlesque was quickly relegated to the shadow-world of working-class male leisure. In this process the burlesque performer "lost" her voice, as burlesque increasingly revolved around the display of her body. Locating burlesque within the context of both the social transformation of American theater and its patterns of gender representation, Allen concludes that burlesque represents a fascinating example of the potential transgressiveness of popular entertainment forms, as well as the strategies by which they have been contained and their threats defused.

Avg Rating
3.90
Number of Ratings
100
5 STARS
28%
4 STARS
40%
3 STARS
27%
2 STARS
4%
1 STARS
1%
goodreads

Author

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved