TY - JOUR

T1 - The ageing body in Monty Python Live (Mostly)

AU - Petersen, Line Nybro

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - This article analyses representations of the ageing body in the live televised show Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014). The famous satire group performed in the O2 arena in London, and the show was telecast live in cinemas and aired on television across the world. In the show, the group members, now in their 70s, reprise a series of their most popular sketches and introduce a few new sketches. This analysis focuses on the ways in which representations of the ageing body intersect with representations of gender and sexuality in order to discuss how the boundaries for appropriation and subversion become blurred in the context of the show. This article combines theory of mediatisation with cultural gerontology and feminist theory in order to bring these issues to light. I argue that the show offers an appropriation of the female ageing body – often exemplified through cross-dressing – but also a subversion of sexuality for ageing bodies (both male and female). This article forms part of ‘Media and the Ageing Body’ Special Issue.

AB - This article analyses representations of the ageing body in the live televised show Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014). The famous satire group performed in the O2 arena in London, and the show was telecast live in cinemas and aired on television across the world. In the show, the group members, now in their 70s, reprise a series of their most popular sketches and introduce a few new sketches. This analysis focuses on the ways in which representations of the ageing body intersect with representations of gender and sexuality in order to discuss how the boundaries for appropriation and subversion become blurred in the context of the show. This article combines theory of mediatisation with cultural gerontology and feminist theory in order to bring these issues to light. I argue that the show offers an appropriation of the female ageing body – often exemplified through cross-dressing – but also a subversion of sexuality for ageing bodies (both male and female). This article forms part of ‘Media and the Ageing Body’ Special Issue.

U2 - 10.1177/1367549417708435

DO - 10.1177/1367549417708435

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85048132609

VL - 21

SP - 382

EP - 394

JO - European Journal of Cultural Studies

JF - European Journal of Cultural Studies

SN - 1367-5494

IS - 3

ER -