This book uses popular culture to highlight the intersections and interplay between ideologies, technological advancement and mobilities as they shape contemporary Irish identities. Marshalling case studies drawn from a wide spectrum of popular culture, including the mediated construction of prominent sporting figures, Troubles-set sitcom Derry Girls, and poignant drama feature Philomena, Anthony P. McIntyre offers a wide-ranging discussion of contemporary Irishness, tracing its entanglement with notions of mobility, regionality and identity. The book will appeal to students and scholars of Irish studies, cultural studies, as well as film and media studies.
Author(s): Anthony P. McIntyre
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 265
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction—“Fractured Movement”: Transnationalism, Regionality, and Diaspora in Contemporary Irish Popular Culture
Neoliberal Ireland: Mapping the Contemporary Conjuncture North and South
Conjunctural Flash Points
Transnationalism, Regionality and Diaspora: Utilizing Key Terms
Methodology, Choice of Texts and Chapter Overview
Bibliography
Chapter 2: Star Leverage, Local Matters, and Transnational Media: Chris O’Dowd, Moone Boy and Puffin Rock
Shifting Masculinities in Twenty-First Century Stardom: O’Dowd’s Emergence and the Decline of Celtic Tiger Masculinities
Everyman Appeal, Demotic Corporeality, and Irish Performativity
Bridesmaids: Breakthrough Performance and the Ambivalence of Irishness
Accented Performance: O’Dowd’s Irishness as Aural Signifier and Diasporic Index
Transnationalism, Channel Identity and the Irish Sitcom
Regionalism and Nostalgia in the Irish Sitcom: Moone Boy
Economic Woes, County Pride and the ‘Returning Migrant’
Renegotiating the West Onscreen: Reflective Nostalgia, Region and the Changing Face of Ireland
Irish Animation, FDI and Regional Development
Puffin Rock: Local and International Funding Strategies and Global Appeal10
Accent and Visual Style in Puffin Rock
Conclusion
Bibliography
Chapter 3: Derry Girls and Cork Boys: Second Cities, Regional Identities and (Trans)National Tensions in the Contemporary Irish Sitcom
Regional Comedic Voices
(Trans)National Hierarchies and the City
Historical Conditions and “Second City Affect” in Cork and Derry
Spatialized Inequality and Youthful Mobility in the Young Offenders
Melodrama, Bromance and the Recuperation of the Lad in the Young Offenders
Future Girls and Present-Day Troubles: Derry Girls and “The Real Derry Girls”
Schoolgirls, Murals and Thwarting the ‘New Story’ of the City
Trans/National Television Reception and Regionalised Distinction
Conclusion
Bibliography
Chapter 4: Transnationalism, Masculinity, and Diasporic Performativity in Irish Sport: Conor McGregor and James McClean
Sporting Celebrity, Masculinity and Nation
Career Overview: Conor McGregor
Post-Celtic Tiger Recessionary Culture, Neoliberal Logics and McGregor’s Emergence
Corporeal Metaphors, Self-Regulation and Hyper-Consumerism
Historical Precedents, Social Unrest and the Sports Media Complex
The Money Fight: Racialized Sporting Spectacle in the Trump Era
Contrasting Receptions: The Perils of Transatlantic Authenticity
James McClean’s Poppy Protest and the Cultural Politics of Diasporic Non-Assimilation
James McClean: Career Overview
Social Media and Unruly Northern Nationalism
Poppies, Protest and Negotiating Media Exposure
Conclusion
Bibliography
Chapter 5: Irish Female Comedic Voices, Diasporic Melancholy, and Productive Irritation: Sharon Horgan, Aisling Bea and Maeve Higgins
Women, the Creative Industries and Irish Society
Sharon Horgan: Auteur-Entrepreneurialism, Creative Networks and Mobile Irishness
Horgan’s Migrant Narrative Voice and the Comedic Transnational Legibility of Irritation
“Be Our Yes”: Diasporic Political Activism and the Comedic Navigation of Bad Feelings
This Way Up: Melancholic Migrancy and Affective Vulnerability
Migrancy and the Spectral Metaphor of the Forgotten Irish
Maeve Higgins: Comedic Origins
Writing Migration
Juxtapositional Ethnicity and US Migration
Extra Ordinary: Localism and Transnationalism in Genre Filmmaking
Stand-Up, Cultural Scenes and Gender Equality
Conclusion: Female Comedic Voices, Affective Ambivalence and Migrant Subjectivity
Bibliography
Chapter 6: Mammies and Sons: Mobilising Maternal and Filial Affect in Mrs Brown’s Boys, 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy, and Philomena
The Irish Mammy: From Stage to (Digital) Screen
Mrs Brown’s Boys: Regionalism, Transnationalism and Populist Appeal in the “Dublin Dame”
50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy: Filial Bonding, Transnational Maternal Affect and Generational Transition in Popular Culture
Philomena, the Hidden Diaspora, Appealable Trauma Narrative and Second-Generation Migrant Performativity
Conclusion
Bibliography
Chapter 7: Coda: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Irish Screen Media
Early Representations: Together and “Strangers on a (Dublin) Train”
Conclusion: Maintaining the Delicate Fiction of Home
Bibliography
Index
