Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Introduction
Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK

I. Golden Couples

Introduction
Shelley 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 John
Gilbert
Michael 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 Fitzgerald
Sarah Churchwell, University of East Anglia, UK

‘Good Fellowship’: Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
Michael Hammond, University of Southampton, UK

II. Kinships

Introduction
Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK

Filial Coupling, the Incest Narrative, and the O’Neals
Maria Pramaggiore, Maynooth University, Ireland

A Star is Born?: Rishi Kapoor and Dynastic Charisma in Hindi Cinema
Rachel Dwyer, SOAS, University of London, UK

Eddie Murphy’s Baby Mama Drama and Smith Family Values: The (Post-) Racial Familial Politics of Hollywood Celebrity Couples
Hannah Hamad, King’s College London, UK

Momager of the Brides: Kris Jenner’s Management of Kardashian Romance
Alice Leppert, Ursinus College, USA

III. Marriage

Introduction
Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK

Diana’s Rings: Fetishizing The Royal Couple
Margaret Schwartz, Fordham University, USA

Behind Every Great Woman…?: Celebrity, Political Leadership, and the Privileging of Marriage
Anthea Taylor, University of Queensland, Australia

It’s the Thought That Counts: North Korea’s Glocalization of the Celebrity Couple and the Mediated Politics of Reform
David Zeglen, George Mason University, USA

Ellen and Portia’s Wedding: The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage and Celesbianism
Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK

Audrey Hollander and Otto Bauer: The Perfect (Pornographic) Marriage?
Beccy Collings, University of East Anglia, UK

IV. Love

Introduction
Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton, UK, and Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK

The Return of Liz and Dick
Suzanne Leonard, Simmons College, USA

‘Brad & Angelina: And Now . . . Brangelina!’: A Sociocultural Analysis of Blended Celebrity Couple Names
Vanessa Diaz, University of Michigan, USA

Jane Fonda, Power Nuptials, and the Project of Aging
Linda Ruth Williams, University of Southampton, UK

The Making, Unmaking and Re-Making of ‘Robsten’
Diane Negra, University College Dublin

The Good, the Bad, and the Broken: Forms and Functions of Neoliberal Celebrity Relationships
Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK

Index

Promotional Information

Examines media treatment of power couples and celebrity relationships.

About the Author

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.

Reviews

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.
*Sean Redmond, Associate Professor of Media and Communication, Deakin University, Australia.*

From Lombard and Gable to Brangelina and the Kardashian clan, power couples and famous families have occupied public attention while until now mostly evading analytical scrutiny. In First Comes Love, Shelley Cobb and Neil Ewen—or, as they may soon be known, Sheneil—bring together a sharp, lively crew of scholars, whose smart takes on celebrity couples and kin, and on topics ranging from racial politics and same-sex marriage to aging and neoliberalism, open new pathways in celebrity studies.
*Joshua Gamson, Professor of Sociology, University of San Francisco, USA, and author of Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America*