Falling down / Jude Davies.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davies, Jude, 1965- author.

Series:

Controversies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Falling down (Motion picture).

National characteristics, American, in motion pictures.

Violence in motion pictures.

Frustration in motion pictures.

Physical Description:

ix, 144 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 19 cm.

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Summary:

Falling Down is a confrontational yet original take on the so-called crisis of white masculinity. Released in the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots - the USA's biggest outbreak of urban disorder for a century - the film was instantly enlisted by various sides in the 'culture wars' over American identity, igniting debates that remain matters of conflict within culture and politics in the United States today. Jude Davies scrutinises the film's portrayal of white masculinity in crisis in relation to the emancipation of women and non-whites, as well as the decline in American manufacturing. He also explores the controversies that broke over the film's depiction of Asian and Latino Americans and in contrast highlights the film's innovative representation of African Americans. By describing the evolution of Falling Down from screenplay to release and also conducting a close analysis of key scenes, Davies offers a wide-ranging but focussed examination of the film itself, the debates it sparked, and the real events which unintentionally, yet accurately, echoed its controversial themes. Assessed in these contexts, Falling Down is revealed as marking a pivotal moment not only in the representation of masculinity and racial whiteness, but also in Hollywood's attempts to depict a multicultural nation. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Making Falling Down

The Principals: Ebbe Roe Smith, Michael Douglas, and Joel Schumacher 19

'The "Headline" Type of Screen Story' 21

From Screenplay to Script: Normalising D-Fens 24

Michael Douglas's Career of Controversy 26

The Riots/Uprising 28

Part 2 The Controversy

Overview: Striking Several Nerves 33

First Reviews: Thrillers and the Morality of Rim Violence 33

Negative Images: 'Race' 37

Negative Images: The City of Los Angeles 39

Newsweek 42

Crossfire 45

Defences and Counter-Arguments 46

The Question of Identification 51

Part 3 The 'Crisis of White Masculinity'

An Ambiguous Film 57

The Culture Wars 60

Was there an Economic Basis to the 'Crisis of White Masculinity'? 61

Fatherhood Movies and the 'Privilege of Gentleness' 65

The 'Crisis of Masculinity' in Gender Theory 67

Whiteness: Marked and Unmarked 71

Coming to Grips with Falling Down 74

Part 4 Reading Falling Down

Interpreting Falling Down 81

Jammed In 83

Mr Lee's Store 85

The Drive-by 91

'Not Economically Viable' 98

'What Kind of Vigilante Are You?' 101

Between Good Guys and Bad Guys 107

Part 5 The Legacy of Falling Down

Debate Movies and Rim Theory 117

The High-Water Mark of White Male Paranoia 120

Marketing for Changing Times 121

The End of Men, or White Male Paranoia Redux 122.

ISBN:

9780230321342

0230321348

OCLC:

868998673