Millennial Masculinity: Men in Contemporary American Cinema (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series)

In Virtually Every Aspect Of Culture--health, Marriage, Family, Morals, Politics, Sex, Race, Economics--american Men Of The Past Two Decades Have Faced Changing Social Conditions And Confronted Radical Questions About Themselves. In Millennial Masculinity: Men In Contemporary American Cinema, Editor Timothy Shary Collects Fourteen Contributions That Consider Male Representation In Films Made At The Turn Of The Century To Explore Precisely How Those Questions Have Been Dealt With In Cinema. Contributors Move Beyond The Recent Wave Of Masculinity In Crisis Arguments To Provide Sophisticated And Often Surprising Insight Into Accessible Films. Chapters Are Arranged In Four Sections: Performing Masculinity Includes A Discussion Of Adam Sandler And Movies Such As Milk; Patriarchal Problems Looks At Issues Of Fathers From Directors Such As Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, And David Fincher; Exceptional Sexualities Examines Male Love And Sex Through Movies Like Brokeback Mountain And Wedding Crashers; And Facing Race Explores Masculinity Through Race In Film. Sean Penn, Jackie Chan, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, And Philip Seymour Hoffman Are Some Of The Actors Included In These Analyses, While Themes Considered Include Police Thrillers, Psychotic Killers, Gay Tensions, Fashion Sense, And The Burgeoning Bromance Genre. Taken Together, The Essays In Millennial Masculinity Shed Light On The High Stakes Of Masculine Roles In Contemporary American Cinema. Film And Television Scholars As Well As Readers Interested In Gender And Sexuality In Film Will Appreciate This Timely Collection--publisher Description. I: Performing Masculinity -- Adam Sandler, An Apologia: Anger, Arrested Adolescence, Amour Fou / Aaron Taylor -- Politics Is Theater: Performance, Sexuality, And Milk / Donna Peberdy -- Feelings And Firefights: Gendered Performance In Cop Action Climaxes / Neal King -- Ii: Patriarchal Problems -- I'd Fight My Dad: Absent Fathers And Mediated Masculinities In Fight Club / Mike Chopra-gant -- Because I Hate Fathers, And I Never Wanted To Be One: Wes Anderson, Entitled Masculinity, And The Crisis Of The Patriarch / Chris Robé -- Allegory Of Deliverance: Class And Gender In Scorsese's Bringing Out The Dead / R. Barton Palmer --american Psycho Family Values: Conservative Cinema And The New Travis Bickles / David Greven -- Iii. Exceptional Sexualities -- Death Of The Strong Silent Type: The Achievement Of Brokeback Mountain / Christopher Sharrett -- More Than Buddies: Wedding Crashers And The Bromance As Comedy Of (re)marriage Equality / Maria San Filippo -- The Queer Fat Of Philip Seymour Hoffman / Caetlin Benson-allott -- Iv: Facing Race -- Inside Men: Black Masculinity In The Films Of Spike Lee And John Singleton / Melvin Donalson -- Legendary Troubles : Trauma, Masculinity, And Race In I Am Legend / Claire Sisco King -- Male Style And Race In The Neoretro Heist Film / Mark Gallagher -- Flexible Masculinities And The Rush Hour Franchise: The Asian Body, The American Male, And Global Hollywood / Gina Marchetti. Edited By Timothy Shary. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Preface 12 Introduction 16 I. Performing Masculinity 32 1. Adam Sandler, an Apologia: Anger, Arrested Adolescence, Amour Fou 34 2. “Politics Is Theater”: Performance, Sexuality, and Milk 67 3. Feelings and Firefights: Gendered Performance in Cop Action Climaxes 81 II. Patriarchal Problems 98 4. “I’d Fight My Dad”: Absent Fathers and Mediated Masculinities in Fight Club 100 5. “Because I Hate Fathers, and I Never Wanted to Be One”: Wes Anderson, Entitled Masculinity, and the “Crisis” of the Patriarch 116 6. Allegory of Deliverance: Class and Gender in Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead 137 7. American Psycho Family Values: Conservative Cinema and the New Travis Bickles 158 III. Exceptional Sexualities 178 8. Death of the Strong Silent Type: The Achievement of Brokeback Mountain 180 9. More than Buddies: Wedding Crashers and the Bromance as Comedy of (Re)Marriage Equality 196 10. The Queer Fat of Philip Seymour Hoffman 215 IV. Facing Race 236 11. Inside Men: Black Masculinity in the Films of Spike Lee and John Singleton 238 12. Legendary Troubles: Trauma, Masculinity, and Race in I Am Legend 258 13. Male Style and Race in the Neoretro Heist Film 280 14. Flexible Masculinities and the Rush Hour Franchise: The Asian Body, the American Male, and Global Hollywood 303 Appendix: U.S. Films since 1990 Addressing Masculinity 328 Bibliography 336 Contributors 354 Index 360 In virtually every aspect of culture - health, marriage, family, morals, politics, sex, race, economics - American men of the past two decades have faced changing social conditions and confronted radical questions about themselves. In this book, the editor collects fourteen contributions that consider male representation in films made at the turn of the century to explore precisely how those questions have been dealt with in cinema. Contributors move beyond the wave of "masculinity in crisis" arguments to provide sophisticated and often surprising insight into accessible films. Chapters are arranged in four sections: "Performing Masculinity" includes a discussion of Adam Sandler and movies such as Milk; "Patriarchal Problems" looks at issues of fathers from directors such as Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, and David Fincher; "Exceptional Sexualities" examines male love and sex through movies like Brokeback Mountain and Wedding Crashers; and "Facing Race" explores masculinity through race in film. Sean Penn, Jackie Chan, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and Philip Seymour Hoffman are some of the actors included in these analyses, while themes considered include police thrillers, psychotic killers, gay tensions, fashion sense, and the burgeoning "bromance" genre. Taken together, the essays in this book shed light on the high stakes of masculine roles in American cinema. -- Publisher's description