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The relationship between U.S. masculinity and American feminist movements of the twentieth century is complex. This collection engages with prominent film and television texts that directly interrogate images of U.S. masculinity that have appeared since second-wave feminism, acknowledging the limits of their negotiations and self-actualization.
List of contents
Screening Images of American Masculinity in the Age of Postfeminism
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Liberating American Masculinity
Elizabeth Abele
Recovering Masculinities
1: Fashioning Flexibility: Racial Neoliberalism and the Vicissitudes of Masculinity
Michael Litwack
2: "Any closer and you'd be Mom": The Limits of Post-Feminist Paternity in the Films of Robin Williams
Katie Barnett
3: Rethinking the Nation and the Body Politic: The Wrestler and the Demise of American Exceptionalism
John A. Gronbeck-Tedesco
4: The Bourne Refusal: Changing the Rules of the Game
Mary T. Hartson
Masculinities for Men and Women
5: Subverting the Master's Hero: Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds as a New Kind of Space Cowboy
Laura L. Beadling
6: When Eleven Year-Olds Kick-Ass: Hit-Girl as Role Model or Victim?
Keith Friedlander
Negotiated Masculinities
7: "I'm listening": Analyzing the Masculine Example of Frasier Crane
Dustin Gann
8: Hanging With the Boys: Homosocial Bonding and Bromance Coupling in Nip/Tuck and Boston Legal
Pamela Hill Nettleton
9: Some Assembly Required: Joss Whedon's Bridging of Masculinities in Marvel Films' The Avengers
Derek S. McGrath
Loving Anti-Heroes
10: The Agency of Nostalgia in Mad Men
Maureen McKnight
11: "Out Like a Man": Straddling the Postfeminist Fence in Dexter and Breaking Bad
Brenda Boudreau
12: Last Men Standing: Will Smith as the Obsolete Patriarchal Male
Elizabeth Abele
About the author
Elizabeth Abele is associate professor of English at SUNY Nassau Community College.
John A. Gronbeck-Tedesco is assistant professor and convener of American Studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey.
Summary
The relationship between U.S. masculinity and American feminist movements of the twentieth century is complex. This collection engages with prominent film and television texts that directly interrogate images of U.S. masculinity that have appeared since second-wave feminism, acknowledging the limits of their negotiations and self-actualization.
