First Comes Love

Shelley Cobb is Associate Professor in Film and English at the University of Southampton, UK. Her research interests center on women and contemporary media culture. She is the author of Adaptation, Authorship and Contemporary Women Filmmakers (2014) and has published on women directors, celebrity culture, chick-flicks, film adaptation, and breast cancer culture. She is the principal investigator of the AHRC-funded research project ‘Calling the Shots: Women and Contemporary UK Film Culture, 2000 – 2015.’Neil Ewen is a Lecturer in Film and Media Studies at the University of Winchester, UK. His research concerns cultural politics, particularly in the realms of sport and celebrity. His writing has appeared in various academic publications, and he is currently preparing a monograph on soccer, affect, and national identity in England.

First Comes Love is one of the very finest edited collections that I have had the pleasure of reading. Its examination of celebrity couples is complex, diverse, provocative and challenging. Whether this be an examination of golden couple Brangelina, or the undressing of the gilded garments of Garbo and Gilbert, the book traverses the way celebrity couples are engaged with historically, textually, and globally. Each chapter is a critical delight, the footprints immaculately chosen, and the arguments and illustrations intricate and delicate in equal measure. Beautiful.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Contributors IntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK I. Golden CouplesIntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK‘Gilbo-Garbage’ or ‘The Champion Lovemakers of Two Nations’: Uncoupling Greta Garbo and JohnGilbertMichael Williams, University of Southampton, UK‘The Most Envied Couple in America in 1921’: Making the Social Register in the Scrapbooks of F.Scott and Zelda FitzgeraldSarah Churchwell, University of East Anglia, UK‘Good Fellowship’: Carole Lombard and Clark GableMichael Hammond, University of Southampton, UK II. KinshipsIntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UKFilial Coupling, the Incest Narrative, and the O’NealsMaria Pramaggiore, Maynooth University, Ireland A Star is Born?: Rishi Kapoor and Dynastic Charisma in Hindi CinemaRachel Dwyer, SOAS, University of London, UKEddie Murphy’s Baby Mama Drama and Smith Family Values: The (Post-) Racial Familial Politics of Hollywood Celebrity CouplesHannah Hamad, King’s College London, UKMomager of the Brides: Kris Jenner’s Management of Kardashian RomanceAlice Leppert, Ursinus College, USA III. MarriageIntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UKDiana’s Rings: Fetishizing The Royal CoupleMargaret Schwartz, Fordham University, USABehind Every Great Woman…?: Celebrity, Political Leadership, and the Privileging of MarriageAnthea Taylor, University of Queensland, AustraliaIt’s the Thought That Counts: North Korea’s Glocalization of the Celebrity Couple and the Mediated Politics of ReformDavid Zeglen, George Mason University, USAEllen and Portia’s Wedding: The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage and Celesbianism Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UKAudrey Hollander and Otto Bauer: The Perfect (Pornographic) Marriage?Beccy Collings, University of East Anglia, UKIV. LoveIntroductionShelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UKThe Return of Liz and DickSuzanne Leonard, Simmons College, USA‘Brad & Angelina: And Now . . . Brangelina!’: A Sociocultural Analysis of Blended Celebrity Couple NamesVanessa Diaz, University of Michigan, USAJane Fonda, Power Nuptials, and the Project of AgingLinda Ruth Williams, University of Southampton, UKThe Making, Unmaking and Re-Making of ‘Robsten’Diane Negra, University College DublinThe Good, the Bad, and the Broken: Forms and Functions of Neoliberal Celebrity Relationships Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UKIndex