Detecting Men: Masculinity and the Hollywood Detective FilmState University of New York Press, 2012 M02 1 - 356 pages Detecting Men examines the history of the Hollywood detective genre and the ways that detective films have negotiated changing social attitudes toward masculinity, heroism, law enforcement, and justice. Genre film can be a site for the expression and resolution of problematic social issues, but while there have been many studies of such other male genres as war films, gangster films, and Westerns, relatively little attention has been paid to detective films beyond film noir. In this volume, Philippa Gates examines classical films of the thirties and forties as well as recent examples of the genre, including Die Hard, the Lethal Weapon films, The Usual Suspects, Seven, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Murder by Numbers, in order to explore social anxieties about masculinity and crime and Hollywood's conceptions of gender. Up until the early 1990s, Gates argues, the primary focus of the detective genre was the masculinity of the hero. However, from the mid-1990s onward, the genre has shifted to more technical portrayals of crime scene investigation, forensic science, and criminal profiling, offering a reassuring image of law enforcement in the face of violent crime. By investigating the evolution of the detective film, Gates suggests, perhaps we can detect the male. |
Contents
| 1 | |
The 1940s and the 1980s | 53 |
The 1990s and 2000s | 155 |
N O T E S | 287 |
S E L E C T E D F I L M O G R A P H Y | 301 |
| 317 | |
| 337 | |
Other editions - View all
Detecting Men: Masculinity and the Hollywood Detective Film Philippa Gates No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
action action hero actors American appearance argues associated attempt audiences Basil Rathbone become beginning body British buddy character cinema classical concerned constructed contemporary crime criminal criminalist crisis critics culture defined desire detective film detective story detective-hero dominant early embodied evil example experience face fact fear female femininity feminized fiction FIGURE gender genre hand Hannibal Hannibal Lecter hardboiled hero heroism Hollywood identified identity independent John kill kind lives male masculinity Murder mystery narrative noir notes novels offers ofthe Perf perform Pictures played police popular portrayed position presented protagonist regarded relationship representation represented role scene screen seems seen serial killer sexual shift Similarly sleuth social society specific star story successful suggests Suspects takes television tends tough traditional victim villain violence Warner Bros Weapon woman women