Men and Masculinities in Irish Cinema (Global Masculinities)

Spanning a broad trajectory, from the New Gaelic Man of post-independence Ireland to the slick urban gangsters of contemporary productions, this study traces a significant shift from idealistic images of Irish manhood to a much more diverse and gender-politically ambiguous range of male identities on the Irish screen. Spanning a broad trajectory, from the New Gaelic Man of post-independence Ireland to the slick urban gangsters of contemporary productions, this study traces a significant shift from idealistic images of Irish manhood to a much more diverse and gender-politically ambiguous range of male identities on the Irish screen. Ging argues that Irish filmmakers have been instrumental to identifying critical flashpoints and fissures in the 'masculinity' debate, sometimes long before sociologists, psychologists and the news media. She tracks evolving cinematic discourses on manhood, from the early period of nationalist filmmaking through the First Wave's unusually anti-patriarchal and anti-nationalist interventions, to post-Celtic Tiger cinema's engagements with postfeminism, New Laddism and Raunch Culture. This is a compelling and insightful story about the development of male identities in Irish cinema over the past century Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-19 Gender and Nation: the Gaelicisation of Irish Manhood....Pages 20-37 ‘Instruments of God’s Will’: Masculinity in Early Irish Film....Pages 38-57 Institutional Boys: Adolescent Masculinity and Coming of Age in Ireland’s ‘Architecture of Containment’....Pages 58-78 Family Guys: Detonating the Irish Nuclear Family....Pages 79-104 It’s Good to Talk? Language, Loquaciousness and Silence Among Irish Cinema’s Men in Crisis....Pages 105-129 Troubled Bodies, Troubled Minds: Republicanism, Bromance and ‘House-Training’ the ‘Men of Violence’....Pages 130-153 New Lads or ‘Protest Masculinities’? Underclass, Criminal and Socially Marginalised Men in the Films of the 1990s and 2000s....Pages 154-181 Cool Hibernia: ‘New Men’, Metrosexuals, Celtic Soul and Queer Fellas....Pages 182-207 Conclusion: a Masculinity of ‘Transcendent’ Defeat?....Pages 208-213 Back Matter....Pages 214-252