Ep. 76: Maggie Hennefeld on the Cultural Politics of Women’s Laughter (September 2024)
Stephanie Brown delves into the dangerous world of women laughing in this conversation with Maggie Hennefeld about her new book Death By Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema. Covering everything from 19th-century obituaries blaming giggle fits (rather than girdle fits) for women’s deaths to the modern-day political power of a vice presidential cackle, we’re certain this episode will entertain you … just short of killing you.
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LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE
Maggie Hennefeld Faculty Profile
Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema from Columbia University Press
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Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes
Cinema’s First Nasty Women - Women Film Pioneers Project
Special Issue of Feminist Media Histories on Speculative Historiography
“Why was a laughing woman seen as lethal, not least to herself?”, Hennefeld in Psyche
“Make America Laugh Again,” Maggie Hennefeld’s Op-Ed in the Star-Tribune
How “Brat Summer” TikTok Trend Kickstarted Kamala Harris’s Campaign - CBS News
JD Vance’s Mythical Couch Tryst is a Fact Checker’s Nightmare
NY Post, “Kamala Harris’ dismissive laugh on full display in first presidential debate with Trump” Taylor Tomlinson on Being the Lone Woman in Late-Night
Jokes Amber Can Tell (on CNN)
‘The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic Steps Up To The Desk