Description
Book SynopsisExtra-Ordinary Men analyzes popular cinematic representations of white heterosexual masculinity as the ordinary form of male identity, one that enjoys considerable economic, social, political, and representational strength. Nicola Rehling argues that while this normative position affords white heterosexual masculinity ideological and political dominance, such ordinariness also engenders the anxiety that it is a depthless, vacuous, and unstable identity. At a time when the neutrality of white heterosexual masculinity has been challenged by identity politics, this insightful volume offers lucid accounts of contemporary theoretical debates on masculinity in popular cinema, and explores the strategies deployed in popular films to reassert white heterosexual male hegemony through detailed readings of films as diverse as Fight Club, Boys Don''t Cry, and The Matrix. Accessible to undergraduates, but also of interest to film scholars, the book makes a distinctive contribution to our understand
Trade ReviewThis volume's major strength is the author's remarkable knowledge of the theory and debates of those working in cultural studies. Her discussion of Quentin Tarantino takes the overhyped director to task, and her take on his gangster films and their incorporation of black masculinity stands as some of the finest work on the filmmaker. Recommended.... * CHOICE, August 2009 *
This study is original while making an intelligent use of existing studies. Extremely well organized, this book moves gradually and rigorously from the general to the more specific and shows a remarkable ability to articulate plot summaries and textual analyzes, ongoing theoretical concerns, and personal statements thoroughly argued through to their conclusions. -- Reynold Humphries
This volume's major strength is the author's remarkable knowledge of the theory and debates of those working in cultural studies. Her discussion of Quentin Tarantino takes the overhyped director to task, and her take on his gangster films and their incorporation of black masculinity stands as some of the finest work on the filmmaker. Recommended. * CHOICE, August 2009 *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Part 2 The Politics of the "White Male as Victim" Chapter 3 Losing Ground: Representations of White Male Disenfranchisement in Anglo-American Popular Cinema Chapter 4 Literalizing the Wound: Paternal Melodramas, Masochism, and the White Heterosexual Masculinity in Popular U.S. Cinema Part 5 Coming Apart at the Seams? White Heterosexual Masculinity and the Body in Popular Cinema Chapter 6 Fleshing Out White Heterosexual Masculinity: The Objectified and Commodified White Male Body Chapter 7 Terminal Bodies and Cartesian Trips: White Heterosexual Masculinity in Virtual Reality Fantasy Cinema Chapter 8 Queering White Heterosexual Masculinity: Cross-Dressing and Transgender Cinema Chapter 9 White Skin, Black Masks? Male Wiggers in Contemporary Popular Cinema Part 10 Marking White Male Violence: The Gangster and the Serial Killer Chapter 11 White Male Violence in Quentin Tarantino's Gangster Films Chapter 12 Everyman and No Man: White Masculinity in Contemporary Serial Killer Movies Chapter 13 Afterword
