Abstract
Studying Lois Weber as a one of the pioneering women directors in Hollywood in a book about World War I and popular culture seems appropriate, since she used to be one of the highest paid silent filmmakers and a poster child for prolific movie-making in the years just before and after the Great War. Weber’s oeuvre of over 200 scripted films, only a fraction of which are preserved, appealed to an increasingly female audience base in America, interested in consumption and (serious) entertainment. Discussing her work seems only relevant, however, if used as a platform to reveal her efforts in silencing laughter and denying her narratives the lurking threat of war. Weber’s vision of America and the world seems to counterbalance the focus and concerns of her contemporaries that are haunted by the presence of World War I. The study of her work enables us to discover a discordant American voice at a time when the country starts promoting a unifying patriotic message.
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© 2015 Clémentine Tholas-Disset and Karen A. Ritzenhoff
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Ritzenhoff, K.A. (2015). Silencing Laughter: Pioneering Director Lois Weber and the Uncanny Gaze in Silent Film. In: Tholas-Disset, C., Ritzenhoff, K.A. (eds) Humor, Entertainment, and Popular Culture during World War I. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137436436_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137436436_17
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49662-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43643-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)