Contemporary Hollywood Masculinities : Gender, Genre, and Politics

Kord and Krimmer investigate the most common male types - cops, killers, fathers, cowboys, superheroes, spies, soldiers, rogues, lovers, and losers - by tracing changing concepts of masculinity in popular Hollywood blockbusters from 1992 to 2008 - the Clinton and Bush eras - against a backdrop of contemporary political events, social developments, and popular American myths. Their in-depth analysis of over sixty films, from The Matrix and Iron Man to Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings, shows that movies, far from being mere entertainment, respond directly to today's social and political realities, from consumerism to "family values" to the War on Terror. Traces changing concepts of masculinity in contemporary Hollywood films against a backdrop of political events, social developments, and popular American myths. Kord and Krimmer investigate the most common male types - cops, killers, fathers, cowboys, superheroes, spies, soldiers, rogues, lovers, and losers - bytracing changing concepts of masculinity in popular Hollywood blockbusters from 1992 to 2008 - the Clinton and Bush eras - against a backdrop of contemporary political events, social developments, and popular American myths. Their in-depth analysis of over sixty films, fromThe MatrixandIron MantoPirates of the CaribbeanandThe Lord of the Rings, shows that movies, far from being mere entertainment, respond directly to today's social and political realities, from consumerism to "family values" to the War on Terror "Kord and Krimmer investigate the most common male types - cops, killers, fathers, cowboys, superheroes, spies, soldiers, rogues, lovers, and losers - bytracing changing concepts of masculinity in popular Hollywood blockbusters from 1992 to 2008 - the Clinton and Bush eras - against a backdrop of contemporary political events, social developments, and popular American myths. Their in-depth analysis of over sixty films, from The Matrix and Iron Man to Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings, shows that movies, far from being mere entertainment, respond directly to today's social and political realities, from consumerism to "family values" to the War on Terror"--Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-10 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Lawlessness and Disorder: Cops and Other Serial Killers....Pages 13-36 Fathers, Crises, and Nations....Pages 37-60 Cowboys, Myths, and Audiences....Pages 61-84 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 Superheroes, Leadership, And the War on Terror....Pages 87-110 Spies, Paranoia, and Torture....Pages 111-134 Soldiers from World War II to Iraq....Pages 135-156 Front Matter....Pages 157-157 Rogues, Race, and hegemony....Pages 159-177 Lovers: Men, Women, and Gender Equality....Pages 179-196 Losers, meritocracy, and Identification....Pages 197-219 Conclusion....Pages 221-228 Back Matter....Pages 229-280 "This terrific book will be sure to provoke welcome and lively debate. Skilfully and ambitiously argued, both comprehensive and astutely attentive to the smallest telling detail, and as fair-minded toward its subject as it is rigorously probing, Contemporary Hollywood Masculinities is a valuable contribution to an emergent field. I have no doubt that it will quickly prove to be required reading."--David Greven, Associate Professor, Department of Literatures in English, Connecticut College, USA, and author of Manhood in Hollywood from Bush to Bush (2009) and Representations of Femininity in American Genre Cinema (Palgrave, 2011)