Screening images of American masculinity in the age of postfeminism / edited by Elizabeth Abele and John A. Gronbeck-Tedesco.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Abele, Elizabeth, 1961- editor.

Gronbeck-Tedesco, John A., 1976- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Masculinity in motion pictures.

Masculinity on television.

Motion pictures--United States--History.

Motion pictures.

Television series.

United States.

History.

Television series--United States--History and criticism.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 209 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, 2015.

Summary:

This collection of essays presents a sample of film and television texts interrogating images of US masculinity. Rather than using "postfeminist" as a definition of contemporary feminism, this collection uses the term to designate the period from the late 1980s on-as a point when feminist thought gradually became more mainstream. The movies and TV series examined here have achieved a level of sustained attention, from critical acclaim, to mass appeal, to cult status. Instead of beginning with a set hypothesis on the effect of the feminist movement on images of masculinity in film and on television, these chapters represent a range of responses that demonstrate how the conversations within these texts about American masculinity are often open-ended, allowing both male characters and male viewers a wider range of options. Defining the relationship between US masculinity and American feminist movements of the twentieth century is a complex undertaking. The essays collected for this volume engage prominent film and television texts that directly interrogate images of US masculinity that have appeared since second-wave feminism. The contributors have chosen textual examples whose protagonists actively struggle with the conflicting messages about masculinity. These protagonists are more often works in progress, acknowledging the limits of their negotiations and self-actualization. These chapters also cover a wide range of genres and decades: from action and fantasy to dramas and romantic comedy, from the late 1970s to today. Taken together, the chapters of Screening Images of American Masculinity in the Age of Postteminism interrogate "the possible" screened in popular movies and television series, confronting the multiple and competing visions of masculinity not after or beyond feminism but, rather, in its very wake. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: Liberating American Masculinity / Elizabeth Abele

Recovering Masculinities. Fashioning Flexibility: Racial Neoliberalism and the Vicissitudes of Masculinity / Michael Litwack

"Any closer and you'd be Mom": The Limits of Post-Feminist Paternity in the Films of Robin Williams / Katie Barnett

Rethinking the Nation and the Body Politic: The Wrestler and the Demise of American Exceptionalism / John A. Gronbeck-Tedesco

The Bourne Refusal: Changing the Rules of the Game / Mary T. Hartson

Masculinities for Men and Women. Subverting the Master's Hero: Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds as a New Kind of Space Cowboy / Laura L. Beadling

When Eleven Year-Olds Kick-Ass: Hit-Girl as Role Model or Victim? / Keith Friedlander

Negotiated Masculinities. "I'm Listening": Analyzing the Masculine Example of Frasier Crane / Dustin Gann

Hanging With the Boys: Homosocial Bonding and Bromance Coupling in Nip/Tuck and Boston Legal / Pamela Hill Nettleton

Some Assembly Required: Joss Whedon's Bridging of Masculinities in Marvel Films? The Avengers / Derek S. McGrath

Loving Anti-Heroes. The Agency of Nostalgia in Mad Men / Maureen McKnight

"Out Like a Man": Straddling the Postfeminist Fence in Dexter and Breaking Bad / Brenda Boudreau

Last Men Standing: Will Smith as the Obsolete Patriarchal Male / Elizabeth Abele.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781498525824

1498525822

OCLC:

925784281