Becoming Carole Lombard

<i>Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom Comedy and Legacy</i>is a historical critique of the development and reception of Carole Lombard's stardom from the classical Hollywood period to present day. Based on original archival research Olympia Kiriakou combines theoretically informed textual analyses of Lombard's performances and star image across different media (biographies publicity materials photography and film) with a critical engagement of the cultural economic social and industrial conditions that shaped her stardom. <br/><br/>Sitting at the intersection of feminist film theory star studies and comedy theory this work presents Lombard as a case study to challenge the screwball canon and existent academic discourse about female physical comedy and the alleged delicate female body. In doing so it formulates a new historical approach to understanding gender femininity and identity in Hollywood comedies of the 1930s. Moreover this is the first research of its kind to offer a comprehensive understanding of Lombard's stardom beyond her associations with the screwball comedy genre.