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Masculinity in Fiction and Film

Representing men in popular genres, 1945-2000

Brian Baker 2008

E-Book: 186 pages

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Price: Free

Download: Masculinity in Fiction and Film: Representing men in popular genres, 1945-2000 (Baker 2008).

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This book looks at a wide range of fiction and film texts, from the 1950s to the present, in order to analyse the ways in which masculinity has been represented in popular culture in Britain and the United States. It covers numerous genres, including spy fiction, science fiction, the Western and police thrillers. Each chapter focuses on key forms of masculinity found in each genre, such as the ‘double agent’, the ‘rogue cop’ and the ‘citizen-soldier’.

Brian Baker takes a broad, contextual approach, placing a detailed discussion of key texts and issues concerning masculinity in their historical and cultural context. Written in a clear, accessible way, it explores the changing representation of men over the last fifty years.

Review

‘an ambitious and topical monograph … comprehensive, encyclopedic, reading-focussed and theoretically accessible enough to appeal to students, and it genuinely opens up new conceptual ground, especially by juxtaposing British and American masculinities within their specific national contexts’

Professor Berthold Schoene, University of Manchester

“Baker’s work is a significant contribution to the field of Men’s Studies because in it he connects masculinities with men’s history and popular culture. This work aids in our understanding of the needs of America and Britain in the 20th century and how they created fictionalized masculinities to shape the lives of their men.”

– Cindy A. McLeod, The Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, Vol. 61, No. 1/ Spring 2007

About the Author

Brian Baker is Lecturer in English at Lancaster University, UK.