Transgressive Bodies : Representations in Film and Popular Culture

In recent years the 'body' has become one of the most popular areas of study in the arts, social sciences and humanities. "Transgressive Bodies" offers an examination of a variety of non-normative bodies and how they are represented in film, media and popular culture. Examining the non-normative body in a cultural studies context, this book reconsiders the concept of the 'transgressive body', establishing its status as a culturally mutable term, arguing that popular cultural representations create the transgressive or 'freak' body and then proceed to either 'contain' its threat or (s)exploit it. Through studies of extreme bodybuilding, obesity, disability and transsexed bodies, it examines the implications of such transgressive bodies for gender politics and sexuality. Transgressive Bodies engages with contemporary cultural debates, always relating these to concrete studies of media and cultural representations. This book will therefore appeal to scholars across a range of disciplines, including media and film studies, cultural studies, gender studies, sociology, sports studies and cultural theory. -- Product Description. Contents: Introduction: the 'freak' body: nature versus culture? ; Part I Hyper-Muscular Bodies: Introduction: extreme bodybuilding; 'Wow, Dude! 'You're a monster!' The politics of bigorexia; Flex-rated! Hyper-muscular bodies: resistance or erotic spectacle? Part II Fat Bodies: Introduction: fat; But it's only a fat suit! Representing 'fake' fat in popularculture; 'Watch me grow!': fat admiration, stuffing and feederism. Part III Transsexed Bodies: Introduction: transexuality; Finding the voice I want to use: femininity, gentility and TransAmerica; Chicks with dicks and hunks with pussies: eroticising the pre-op transsexual body. Part IV Disabled Bodies: Introduction: disability; There's something about 'crip' bodies: contemporary representations of disability in the films of the Farrelly brothers and Todd Solondz; Becoming whole: amputees, devotees and self-demand amputation; Conclusion: strategies of containment?; Bibliography; Filmography; Index. In recent years the 'body' has become one of the most popular areas of study in the arts, social sciences and humanities. Transgressive Bodies engages with these contemporary cultural debates to offer an examination of a variety of non-normative bodies and how they are represented in film, media and popular culture. It will appeal to scholars across a range of disciplines, including the media, film, culture and gender studies