Landay, Lori. Madcaps, Screwballs, & Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 272 pp. Paperback, $22.50.

Reviewed in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Spring 1999

Any scholar whose research interests are 'qualitative-oriented' (you know, the type of academician who statisticians refer to with a sneer) is likely to enjoy Lori Landay's new book. The text offers a thought-provoking examination of the archetype of the female trickster, as well as rich portrayals of different tricksters who have become part of our American culture. If you're looking for "data" and quantifyable relationships, go elsewhere. This book is all about cultural experiences that we all have shared through the media. You'll smile when you read it, because it's filled with relationships you're familiar with (it's just that few have attempted to explain them in writing).

Landay's book addresses female tricksters and the roles they have taken on in American media and culture from 1850 to the present. Chapters address female tricksters in American fiction, in the Age of Jazz, in the Depression and War Years, in the developing years of television, and in today's American culture.

The book begins by defining the female trickster, something which in itself is difficult to do because she presents symbols conflicting. She is "both fooler and fooled, heroic and base" (p. 2). She may be a "madcap, screwball" comedic type, a controlled calculator, a confidence woman--or perhaps none of these. She is, as Landay shows us, fundamentally ambiguous and anomalous. (Those of us who are 'qualitative types' are enthralled by these kinds of ideas. 'Quantitative types' cringe at them.)

Some fascinating illustrations of movie stills and advertisements are used as Landay argues that, from the 19th century onward, American social order has more or less 'set up' women to be tricksters--and then has established various social punishments when they become so, in certain situations. Whether you think this is 'good' or 'bad' remains an open question.

Where the book was strongest, for me, was in the chapter dealing with the early years of television in the 1950s. Perhaps this is because (like many) I grew up watching Lucille Ball, who created the "formula" for being a female trickster on television. We learn a lot about Lucy and her on-screen persona--stated and unstated--in this chapter. Of course, there was a real Lucy behind the on-screen trickster, and Lori Landay introduces us to this woman, too. As a result, we read of the many intricate relationships developed between "reel life and real life" (p. 177) for a woman who is as familiar as family to most Americans in my generation. This chapter alone makes the book with reading.

A final chapter addresses the increased level of sexuality displayed by more contemporary trickers, beginning with 1970s TV characters from Bewitched and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Overt demonstrations of sexuality bring additional complications for the trickster, and result in a struggle between gender expectations. How will Ellen DeGeneres, Thelma and Louise, and 'Catwoman' develop and further advance the trickster genre? Time will tell.

I would deem this book very worthy of consideration for a course in popular culture or women's studies. Matched with a supplemental text such as Arthur Asa Berger's An Anatomy of Humor it would be ideal in a communication studies seminar addressing humor and the media.

That is, unless you're a 'quantitative type.'

DOUGLAS J. SWANSON

Oklahoma Baptist University