Review by Choice Review
Roach (theater, Yale) defines "it" as "a certain quality, easy to perceive but hard to define, possessed by abnormally interesting people." "It" combines sex appeal, glamour, popular opinion, and, particularly, media manipulation. Roach probes deep to make this elusive quality tangible. He starts with silent movie flapper Clara Bow, labeled the "It Girl" by Elinor Glyn. Bow is a defining figure, and Roach finds varied models as he moves on to such icons as Marilyn Monroe and Johnny Depp. But Roach does not limit himself to modern times; in fact, this clever, articulate, and amusing study centers on the Restoration, an image-conscious era that defined social discourse and taste in ways that are unexpectedly contemporary. Roach expands outward, leaping with agility from the court of Charles II to Hollywood (equating Samuel Pepys and Glyn along the way) and glancing back at the ancients as well. His exploration of the dense cultural terrain of no fewer than four centuries is masterful, even though a full understanding of "it" remains necessarily elusive. Illustrations and copious notes enhance this important study, which at once illuminates history, culture (broadly defined), and the fickle nature of public taste, which, Roach seems to suggest, has not changed much. Summing Up: Essential. All readers; all levels. J. Fisher University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
Celebrity, that peculiarly contemporary paradox of caring deeply about what the world thinks of you while carrying yourself as if you couldn't care at all, didn't begin with Paris Hilton, or Edie Sedgwick, or even Clara Bow: in this thorough, accessible and utterly off-the-wall examination of fame and infamy, it's Restoration England we have to thank for all our seemingly modern notions of stardom. Roach, a theater professor at Yale and a Mellon Foundation scholar, says it was the Stuarts who gave us meticulous effigies that were literally meant to stand in for the royalty they represented; actresses who competed against each other to appear in increasingly racy official portraits; and ladies of the night who named themselves after the most celebrated ladies of the day. Samuel Pepys preserved these traditions in his diaries; Elinor Glyn, the early-20th-century novelist and screenwriter, and reader of Pepys, resurrected them in a Clara Bow film called "It." This is just the sort of unprovable thesis that university presses swoon over, but it also gives Roach a splendid excuse to explore how we got from Galatea to "My Fair Lady" Barbie dolls (and from Captain Macheath to the McDonald's "Mac Tonight" campaign), and to develop his own vocabulary of "charismata" and "stigmata," the qualities that make us love and loathe the famous at the same time. Swell - now which one can I tell my girlfriend makes it permissible for me to drool over pictures of Scarlett Johansson?
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
Some have it --that indescribable something that sets a person apart--and some don't. In their era, Roach says, Charles II and Nell Gwyn had it, as did Princess Diana in hers. This definition of the word is fairly recent. Roach claims it dates from 1927, when English romance novelist Elinor Glyn dubbed silent film star Bow The 'It' Girl. Characteristics associated with it include a sense of mystery, a bit of intrigue, and a certain element of danger, and it exudes contradictions--strength and vulnerability, innocence and experience. In an erudite yet very readable volume, Roach traces it as concept from Restoration England and the historical figure of the rake or libertine (e.g., John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester). Roach finds the it-effect not only in the theater but also in art, opera, and cinema. Examples he cites span the years from Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Hogarth's etching series The Rake's Progress to Pirates of the Caribbean, in which Johnny Depp conflates such it icons as rake, fop, and pirate in one persona. --June Sawyers Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
It, according to Roach (The Player's Passion: Studies in the Science of Acting), is a certain quality, easy to perceive but hard to define, possessed by abnormally interesting people. Unfortunately, what might have been an abnormally interesting history of It-ness is marred by incomprehensible prose, endless sentences and turgid critical theory. Roach, a professor of theater at Yale, argues that the origins of It can be traced back to the late 17th century, or more precisely, to the period following Charles II of England's restoration to the throne. But It also appears to be a universal phenomenon. The Roman rhetorician Quintilian defined It as the compellingly singular character of the great orator, while for Castiglione It was sprezzatura, the ability to turn heads when entering a room, and biblical prophets were confident It was a divine gift. Despite Roach's lengthy and demanding analysis, no one has come closer to defining It so perfectly and so succinctly as Elinor Glyn, the British romance author who first coined the term in 1927 (Clara Bow would be the first It Girl): In the animal world `It' demonstrates [itself] in tigers and cats-both animals being fascinating and mysterious, and quite unbiddable. Truer words were never spoken. 25 illus. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
What do Elinor Glyn, Clara Bow, Charles II, Nell Gwyn, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, Princess Diana, Eliza Doolittle, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, and Captain Hook have in common? According to Roach (theater, Yale Univ.; Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance), they have "It," that elusive quality that makes celebrities of ordinary folk and icons of celebrities. And what is "It"? Roach spends six chapters attempting to define "It," beginning with an introduction in which he explains his decision to tie his definition to Charles II's reopening of London's theaters (which had been closed under Cromwell) and the resulting rise of the celebrity actor. Subsequent chapters examine specific elements of "It": "Accessories" and "Clothes" feature, respectively, the transformation of weapons from utilitarian objects owned by many to status symbols owned by a privileged few and a portrait of a time when men were fashion plates. Throughout, Roach uses the diaries of Samuel Pepys as commentary on the phenomenon of "It." This is but a sampling of the riches to be found in this unique study of the influence of performance on society. An essential purchase for academic libraries, particularly those with collections in philosophies and theories of performance, and highly recommended for larger public libraries with the understanding that the argument is complex and the language academic.-Cathy Duhig, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by New York Times Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
