Spectacular Bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema (Comedia)

A fantastic contribution to film and cultural studies - very insightful and interesting -essential to those interested in feminist film thory, masculinity, action film. While Films Such As Rambo, Thelma And Louise And Basic Instinct Have Operated As Major Points Of Cultural Reference In Recent Years, Popular Action Cinema Remains Neglected Within Contemporary Film Criticism. Spectacular Bodies Unravels The Complexities And Pleasures Of A Genre Often Dismissed As `obvious' In Both Its Pleasure And Its Politics, Arguing That These Controversial Films Should Be Analysed And Understood Within A Cinematic As Well As A Political Context. Yvonne Tasker Argues That Today's Action Cinema Not Only Responds To The Shifts In Gendered, Sexual And Racial Identities Which Took Place During The 1980s, But Reflects The Influences Of Other Media Such As The New Video Culture. Her Detailed Discussion Of The Homoeroticism Surrounding The Muscleman Hero, The Symbolic Centrality Of Blackness Within The Crime Narrative, And The Changing Status Of Women Within The Genre, Addresses The Constitution Of These Identities Through The Shifting Categories Of Gender, Class, Race, Sex, Sexuality And Nation. Spectacular Bodies Also Examines The Ambivalence Of Supposedly Secure Categories Of Popular Cinema, Questioning The Existing Terms Of Film Criticism In This Area And Addressing The Complex Pleasures Of This Neglected Form. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of plates......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 8 INTRODUCTION: Gender and the action cinema......Page 10 WOMEN WARRIORS: Gender, sexuality and Hollywood's fighting heroines......Page 23 BLACK BUDDIES AND WHITE HEROES: Racial discourse in the action cinema......Page 44 NEW HOLLYWOOD, GENRE AND THE ACTION CINEMA......Page 63 TOUGH GUYS AND WISE-GUYS: Masculinities and star images in the action cinema......Page 94 MASCULINITY, POLITICS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY......Page 112 THE BODY IN CRISIS OR THE BODY TRIUMPHANT?......Page 130 ACTION HEROINES IN THE 1980s: The limits of 'musculinity'......Page 153 THE CINEMA AS EXPERIENCE: Kathryn Bigelow and the cinema of spectacle......Page 174 Notes......Page 188 Filmography......Page 199 Bibliography......Page 207 Index......Page 212 Book Cover 1 Title 4 Contents 5 List of plates 7 Acknowledgements 8 INTRODUCTION: Gender and the action cinema 10 WOMEN WARRIORS: Gender, sexuality and Hollywood's fighting heroines 23 BLACK BUDDIES AND WHITE HEROES: Racial discourse in the action cinema 44 NEW HOLLYWOOD, GENRE AND THE ACTION CINEMA 63 TOUGH GUYS AND WISE-GUYS: Masculinities and star images in the action cinema 94 MASCULINITY, POLITICS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY 112 THE BODY IN CRISIS OR THE BODY TRIUMPHANT? 130 ACTION HEROINES IN THE 1980s: The limits of 'musculinity' 153 THE CINEMA AS EXPERIENCE: Kathryn Bigelow and the cinema of spectacle 174 Notes 188 Filmography 199 Bibliography 207 Index 212 Arts, Language and Literature An examination of the importance of popular action films such as Rambo and Thelma and Louise in a cinematic and political context. This is an area that has previously been ignored by contemporary film criticism.