Absolutely Fabulous
-
Kiene Brillenburg Wurth
Abstract
In this chapter I trace the concept of the satirical grotesque in Absolutely Fabulous. I show how the female body as a materialization of the grotesque in Absolutely Fabulous relates to the power of satire as an instrument of defacement and attack. Absolutely Fabulous is a comically revised sitcom, in its almost women-only cast and its subversion of gender roles. As ridicule of glamour, fashion, and design, one of the main issues in the series is consumption and dieting, incontinence and discipline. I analyze how the satirical grotesque manifests itself in the two protagonists of the show, Edina and Patsy, in between these somatic extremes of incontinence and discipline. More specifically, I show how the satirical grotesque works in Absolutely Fabulous as a disruption of carefully designed images of smooth and firm bodiliness in our culture: a disruption of the real.
Abstract
In this chapter I trace the concept of the satirical grotesque in Absolutely Fabulous. I show how the female body as a materialization of the grotesque in Absolutely Fabulous relates to the power of satire as an instrument of defacement and attack. Absolutely Fabulous is a comically revised sitcom, in its almost women-only cast and its subversion of gender roles. As ridicule of glamour, fashion, and design, one of the main issues in the series is consumption and dieting, incontinence and discipline. I analyze how the satirical grotesque manifests itself in the two protagonists of the show, Edina and Patsy, in between these somatic extremes of incontinence and discipline. More specifically, I show how the satirical grotesque works in Absolutely Fabulous as a disruption of carefully designed images of smooth and firm bodiliness in our culture: a disruption of the real.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- About the contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Mapping the Field
- Satire and dignity 19
- The Authenticity of Play 33
- Cultural Flow 47
-
Space
- Reshaping the Border Zone. An Approach to Satirical Space 61
- Mediating satire 71
- Arab Sitcom Animations as Platforms for Satire 81
-
Target
- Contesting Political Boundaries in Contemporary Moroccan Satire 95
- How to Burlesque a Burlesquer 105
- Who is the ape, who the human? Reize door het Aapenland (1788) and Die Affenkönige oder die Reformation des Affenlandes (1789) considered 135
-
Rhetoric
- Looking backward. The rhetoric of the back in visual satire 147
- "A bull is a ludicrous jest": fable and the satiric bite in Arbuthnot's John Bull pamphlets 175
- Bas Jan Ader's Ludic Conceptualism 185
-
Media
- Absolutely Fabulous 197
- TV Satire and its Targets 207
- Enlightenment Subverted 217
-
Time
- On the power of Money and the King of Spain's son-in- law 235
- Who are the Frogs? The Transmigration of a Symbol of Nationality 247
- Hydropathe Caricature 259
- Conclusions 269
- Index 275
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- About the contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Mapping the Field
- Satire and dignity 19
- The Authenticity of Play 33
- Cultural Flow 47
-
Space
- Reshaping the Border Zone. An Approach to Satirical Space 61
- Mediating satire 71
- Arab Sitcom Animations as Platforms for Satire 81
-
Target
- Contesting Political Boundaries in Contemporary Moroccan Satire 95
- How to Burlesque a Burlesquer 105
- Who is the ape, who the human? Reize door het Aapenland (1788) and Die Affenkönige oder die Reformation des Affenlandes (1789) considered 135
-
Rhetoric
- Looking backward. The rhetoric of the back in visual satire 147
- "A bull is a ludicrous jest": fable and the satiric bite in Arbuthnot's John Bull pamphlets 175
- Bas Jan Ader's Ludic Conceptualism 185
-
Media
- Absolutely Fabulous 197
- TV Satire and its Targets 207
- Enlightenment Subverted 217
-
Time
- On the power of Money and the King of Spain's son-in- law 235
- Who are the Frogs? The Transmigration of a Symbol of Nationality 247
- Hydropathe Caricature 259
- Conclusions 269
- Index 275
