PREFACE

I. An Introduction to the Theory of Genre Analysis

General Discourse on Meaning

The Role of Generic Formations in Meaning Production

The Role of the Critic

Toward Objective Evaluation of Subjective Criticism

Establishing a Corpus

II. The American Film Musical as Dual-Focus Narrative

III. The Structure of the American Film Musical

The film process through a series of paired segments matching the male and female leads

Each separate part of the film recapitulates the film's overall duality

The basic sexual duality overlays a secondary dichotomy

The marriage which resolves the primary (sexual) dichotomy also mediates between the two terms of the secondary (thematic) opposition

IV. The Style of the American Film Musical

Audio Dissolve

Video Dissolve

Personality Dissolve

V. The Problem of Genre History

Problems with Current Terminology

Towards a New Terminology

Defining the Corpus

Reformulating Genre History

The History of the American Film Musical: A New Approach

VI. The Fairy Tale Musical

Prehistory

Sex as Sex

Sex as Battle

Sex as Adventure

VII. The Show Musical

The Sources of Show Musical Semantics

Backstage: The Syntax of Illusion

Taking it Out of the Theater

Saving the Dying Myth: Reflexivity as Reinforcement

VIII. The Folk Musical

Elements of the Folk Musical

Building a Folk Syntax

A Folk Art in the Age of Mass Media

IX. Genre and Culture

The Fundamental Characteristics of Genre Film

Symbolic Spectatorship

Work and Entertainment

The Musical's Operational Role

The Practice of Music in the Age of Electronic Reproduction

Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

NOTES

YEARLY TABLE OF MUSICALS BY SUBGENRE

INDEX