Kennedy-Karpat, C: Rogues, Romance, and Exoticism in French

By Colleen Kennedy-Karpat

Empire alone cannot contain the range of the exoticist imaginary in French fiction cinema of the 1930s. Rogues, Romance, and Exoticism in French Cinema of the 1930s proposes a critical framework for exoticist cinema that subsumes and exceeds colonial territory, analyzing the recurring figures, common settings, major stars, key plot devices, and narrative outcomes that dominated exoticist cinema at its popular peak.

CONTENTSAcknowledgmentsExoticism in 1930s France: The Colonial and BeyondPART ONE: Men Outside the MainstreamChapter 1: Jean Gabin, le cafard, and Western SolidarityLa Bandera (1935): Cultural Cohesion and Colonial MercenariesPépé le Moko (1937) and the Multiethnic ExoticLe Messager (1937): Failure to AdaptChapter 2: Assimilation Anxiety and Rogue ColonsMen Who Stayed Too LongEl Guelmouna, marchand de sable (1931): Rivalry (and Russians) in Rural AlgeriaAmok (1934): Cultural Readmission at All CostsL'Esclave blanc (1936): Segregationist ParablePART TWO: Romancing the ExoticChapter 3: Tragedy and Triumph for Interracial LoveCaïn, aventure des mers exotiques (1930) and Baroud (1932): Lasting Love in the ColoniesLe Simoun (1933) and Yamilé sous les cèdres (1939): Triumph, Tragedy, ResponsibilityWomen's Agency and Exoticist RomanceChapter 4: Métissage and Cultural RepatriationLa Dame de Malacca (1937): European Frog, Exotic Prince(Re)claiming French Identity in La Maison du Maltais (1938)L'Esclave blanche (1939): A Westerner in the HaremRedefining Exoticist RomancePART THREE: France Imagines the Far EastChapter 5: Shanghai Fantasies and the Geishas of JoinvilleMollenard (1938) and Le Drame de Shanghaï (1938): Exiled in (and from) the EastYoshiwara (1936) and La Bataille (1934): Lovers and Fighters in the Land of the Rising SunChapter 6: Sessue Hayakawa's French Resurrection, 1936-1939Forfaiture (1937): A Legend Revised, a Legacy RebornPatrouille blanche (1939/1942): Bringing the Other Back HomeMacao, l'enfer du jeu (1939/1942): The Exotic FatherExoticism in TransitionL'Homme du Niger (1940): Patriotism and Paternalism in AfricaMalaria (1943): Imperial StasisDescendants of Interwar Exoticism from Decolonization to the New CenturyAnnotated FilmographyBibliographyIndex