Description
Book SynopsisSince Toy Story, its first feature in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has produced a string of commercial and critical successes including Monsters, Inc.; WALL-E; Finding Nemo; The Incredibles; Cars; and Up. In nearly all of these films, male characters are prominently featured, usually as protagonists. Despite obvious surface differences, these figures often follow similar narratives toward domestic fulfillment and civic engagement. However, these characters are also hypermasculine types whose paths lead to postmodern social roles more revelatory of the current crisis that sociologists and others have noted in boy culture. In Pixar's Boy Stories: Masculinity in a Postmodern Age, Shannon R. Wooden and Ken Gillam examine how boys become men and how men measure up in films produced by the animation giant. Offering counterintuitive readings of boy culture, this book describes how the films quietly but forcefully reiterate traditional masculine norms in terms of what they praise and what the
Trade ReviewWritten by a husband and wife team, this excellent book deals with the issues surrounding raising boys in a society that seems to offer young men only rigidly defined gender roles. Wooden and Gillam argue that in the postfeminist era, with the collapse of the traditional patriarchy, boys are given conflicting messages by the media–particularly, as discussed in this book, by Pixar animated cartoons. Jammed into roles of either supportive helpmates or macho superheroes, young boys often emulate the exaggerated heroics of Pixar's characters to become, in the words of the authors, 'relentlessly competitive, aggressive, violent and emotionally restricted,' unsure of how to construct themselves in a new social landscape. The authors demonstrate this in detailed readings of Pixar films that, for them, embrace a hypermasculine culture that is both unrealistic and damaging. The parents of two young boys, Wooden and Gillam worry that their sons are not getting the moral, emotional, or social guidance they need from pop culture, and here they argue for ways to counteract Pixar's limited role models. . . .[T]his is an impassioned and deeply felt book, well worth reading. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * CHOICE *
Pixar's Boy Stories is an important contribution to boyhood and childhood studies. . . .The authors find some interesting patterns in presenting stereotypical jocks and nerds, often overlooked by critics and the general public. The book is well-written and captivating. * IRSCL: International Research Society for Children's Literature *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Feminist Approach to Boy Culture Chapter 1: Postfeminist Nostalgia for Pre-Sputnik Cowboys Chapter 2: Superior Bodies and Blue-Collar Brawn: “Real” and Rhetorical Manhoods Chapter 3: “I am Speed”: Athleticism, Competition, and the Bully Society Chapter 4: “Hey, double prizes!” Pixar’s Boy Villains’ Gifts and Intensities Chapter 5: Ornamental Masculinity and the Commodity-Self Chapter 6: “She don’t love you no more”: Bad Boys and Worse Parents Works Cited About the Authors Index
