Papers by Will Visconti
Critical Studies in Men's Fashion, 2024
Special Issue: Menswear and Performance
Critical Studies in Men's Fashion, 2024
Special Issue: Menswear in Performance
Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 2024
French Screen Studies, 2023
The maison close [brothel] in French history and culture, particularly during the nineteenth cent... more The maison close [brothel] in French history and culture, particularly during the nineteenth century because of its representation in art and literature, could be argued to be a lieu de mémoire [site of memory]. In light of the gaps in material that gives direct voice to women in sex work, especially during this period, the maison close could equally be termed a lieu d’oubli [site of forgetting]. In contemporary popular culture, the brothel has become a popular setting for fiction, as with the Canal+ series Maison close (2010, 2013), set in 1870s Paris.
The series reflects a fascination with sex work in popular culture, as well as offering a commentary on the legal standing of sex work between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. This paper interrogates the extent to which Maison close attempts to offer alternative or more nuanced visions of history than simply categorising sex workers as victim/criminal/ femme fatale, informed by abolitionist debates during its production and emerging critiques of the Nordic Model of sex work.
It also analyses how the series provides an alternative vision for sex workers, and workers more generally, that moves from exploitation to collective action and attempts to increase their agency.
European Journal of Humour Research, 2014
In a career that lasted over eighty years, the performances of Mae West were famous, or infamous,... more In a career that lasted over eighty years, the performances of Mae West were famous, or infamous, for their power to shock, their transgression of boundaries of class, gender, sexuality and propriety, and for the frequent opprobrium that West seemed to attract. Moreover, there was no subject matter considered "off-limits" within Mae West's work, and her plays and films were marked by her fearless approach to topics that even today are often seen as problematic (substance abuse, abortion, rape, and the idea of the "expiry date" of the female performer and her sexuality). West also broke new ground by both bringing taboo subjects into mainstream view, and by combining a sympathetic and humorous treatment of serious topics. Despite her reputation as a screen icon with a rapier wit, her work as a writer, and indeed, the effort she put into creating and maintaining the style and content of her act is frequently overlooked. Throughout her plays, films, radio appearances and written work, she consistently pushed the envelope in terms of what was deemed acceptable, normal or humorous for her age (and her era). When castigated for going "too far", she simply edited her material and tried again, inching forward and gradually setting a precedent for later generations of comics and comic writers, while situating herself within an extant framework of shocking and subversive performers. This paper is intended as an exploration not only of West's much-publicised transgressive use of humour, or the subversiveness of her humour itself, but also the way in which her career trajectory embodied the notion of going "too far" with her final films, and how Mae West's life so frequently imitated her art.
Fashion Theory, 2022
The Marchesa Luisa Casati has become a perennial muse of fashion designers in recent decades, fro... more The Marchesa Luisa Casati has become a perennial muse of fashion designers in recent decades, from haute couture to High Street brands. Collections inspired by the Marchesa link to her background and the history of the spaces that she inhabited. Casati was born in Italy but lived and travelled between France, Italy and Britain, among other countries, where the cachet of her name has been combined with that of the fashion houses citing her as an inspiration. Despite her enduring reputation as an avant-garde style icon and a singular dresser who was just as likely to wear elaborate costumes as nothing at all, her engagement with fashion was not always as visibly eccentric as her posthumous impact suggests. Nor was it strictly within the binary of fashion and “anti-fashion” (Pham, 2012, n.p.). Casati was at once a “disruptive” body (Entwistle [2000] 2015, 32) and a conventionally stylish one. Popular memory has focused on the more “spectacular” and stylized elements of her aesthetic. Archival evidence and artistic representation demonstrate how Casati constructed a wardrobe that melded the conventional and shocking, and how fashion played a role in the emergence of her chimerical public persona.
Journal of Romance Studies
Queer Between the Covers: Histories of Queer Publishing and Publishing Queer Voices, 2021
University of London Press
p.61-76
A Cultural History of Comedy Vol. V: Comedy in the Age of Empire, 2020
Bodies of Information, 2019
pp.176-190
European Journal of Humour Research, 2014
In a career that lasted over eighty years, the performances of Mae West were famous, or infamous,... more In a career that lasted over eighty years, the performances of Mae West were famous, or infamous, for their power to shock, their transgression of boundaries of class, gender, sexuality and propriety, and for the frequent opprobrium that West seemed to attract. Moreover, there was no subject matter considered " off-limits " within Mae West's work, and her plays and films were marked by her fearless approach to topics that even today are often seen as problematic (substance abuse, abortion, rape, and the idea of the " expiry date " of the female performer and her sexuality). West also broke new ground by both bringing taboo subjects into mainstream view, and by combining a sympathetic and humorous treatment of serious topics. Despite her reputation as a screen icon with a rapier wit, her work as a writer, and indeed, the effort she put into creating and maintaining the style and content of her act is frequently overlooked. Throughout her plays, films, radio appearances and written work, she consistently pushed the envelope in terms of what was deemed acceptable, normal or humorous for her age (and her era). When castigated for going " too far " , she simply edited her material and tried again, inching forward and gradually setting a precedent for later generations of comics and comic writers, while situating herself within an extant framework of shocking and subversive performers. This paper is intended as an exploration not only of West's much-publicised transgressive use of humour, or the subversiveness of her humour itself, but also the way in which her career trajectory embodied the notion of going " too far " with her final films, and how Mae West's life so frequently imitated her art.
Essays in French Literature & Culture, 2013
At the Moulin-Rouge during the fin-de-siècle, there existed entertainments as diverse as sideshow... more At the Moulin-Rouge during the fin-de-siècle, there existed entertainments as diverse as sideshows, singers, dancing and the " games " of sex-for-sale and sex-as-spectacle, all of which encapsulated varying forms of play. I hope to answer a number of questions pertaining to the concept of playtime at the Moulin: How were the attractions at the Moulin Rouge represented? How do these forms of play intersect? How have representations of these forms of play changed over time, and why? To further illustrate the forms of playtime at the Moulin-Rouge I will refer to depictions of the Moulin in art and film, ranging from the works of Toulouse-Lautrec to contemporary representations of the venue as seen in Francophone and Anglophone films. Through these representations of playtime, I shall examine ideas including the power-play of the Gaze, gendered play, and gender roles within " playtime ". Other ideas to be considered are of vicarious play and participation, and memory and play (the enduring fascination of the Moulin-Rouge in the public imaginations and its depiction). I am also interested in what these forms of play and their representation can tell us about prevalent ideologies of Parisian and Montmartrois culture of the late nineteenth century, and the similarities between the fin-de-siècle and twentieth centuries.
The Variable Body in History, 2016
de genere, 2016
This paper discusses the ways in which two cabaret performers – Dusty Limits and Meow Meow-use hu... more This paper discusses the ways in which two cabaret performers – Dusty Limits and Meow Meow-use humour to communicate ideas about sexuality, and as a means of challenging commonly-held attitudes. Their work also forms a bridge between older styles of performance like vaudeville or Weimar-era cabaret and contemporary popular culture, stylistically and in terms of their song choices. Through the use of " contestive humour " to signify and perform an act of protest, and by combining humour with social commentary, Dusty and Meow encourage audiences to not only think critically, but to laugh at themselves and to recognise the ridiculousness in situations around sex and sexuality. Will Visconti is a writer and researcher currently based in Sydney. His primary areas of research are the arts, gender and transgression, particularly in relation to figures whose historical significance or contribution to their field has been overlooked.
Book Reviews by Will Visconti
Screening Sex blog , 2019
2013. Buffoon men: Classic Hollywood comedians and queered masculinity. Detroit: Wayne State Univ... more 2013. Buffoon men: Classic Hollywood comedians and queered masculinity. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN: 978-08-143-3965-7. 280pp. USD 29.95. Reviewed by Will Visconti,
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Papers by Will Visconti
The series reflects a fascination with sex work in popular culture, as well as offering a commentary on the legal standing of sex work between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. This paper interrogates the extent to which Maison close attempts to offer alternative or more nuanced visions of history than simply categorising sex workers as victim/criminal/ femme fatale, informed by abolitionist debates during its production and emerging critiques of the Nordic Model of sex work.
It also analyses how the series provides an alternative vision for sex workers, and workers more generally, that moves from exploitation to collective action and attempts to increase their agency.
Book Reviews by Will Visconti
Blog Posts by Will Visconti
The series reflects a fascination with sex work in popular culture, as well as offering a commentary on the legal standing of sex work between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. This paper interrogates the extent to which Maison close attempts to offer alternative or more nuanced visions of history than simply categorising sex workers as victim/criminal/ femme fatale, informed by abolitionist debates during its production and emerging critiques of the Nordic Model of sex work.
It also analyses how the series provides an alternative vision for sex workers, and workers more generally, that moves from exploitation to collective action and attempts to increase their agency.
With Beyond the Moulin Rouge, the first substantive English-language study of La Goulue's career and posthumous influence, Will Visconti corrects persistent myths. Despite a tumultuous personal life, La Goulue overcame loss, abusive relationships, and poverty to become the very embodiment of nineteenth-century Paris, feted by royalty and followed as closely as any politician or monarch.
Visconti draws on previously overlooked materials, including medical records, media reports across Europe and the United States, and surviving pages from Louise Weber's diary, to trace the life and impact of a woman whose cultural significance has been ignored in favor of the men around her, and who spent her life upending assumptions about gender, morality, and domesticity in France during the fin de siècle and early twentieth century.