ISBN: 978 84 7290 638 92013, Edicions Bellaterra, 380pp
This book explores the representation of masculinity and the male body in contemporary film and popular culture. Paying special attention to the case of Spain and its relation to international cultural production during the democratic period, it includes key relevant case studies from North American and Western European film and popular culture that have impacted on popular domestic discourses on masculinities.
The project builds upon existing academic interpretations of contemporary depictions of the body, but it expands them by both exploring some material that has received little academic attention until now, and framing that material within a Spanish theoretical and socio-historical framework. The corpus of case studies has been carefully chosen to facilitate cross-media analysis in order to test rigorously the extent to which contemporary representations of the male body and masculinity can be said to belong to a coherent visual economy. Materials covered include: the films of leading Spanish contemporary directors (Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, Bigas Luna and Ventura Pons); the recently revived Hollywood gladiator films; the Merchant Ivory film adaptations of E. M. Forster´s classic novels; iconic music videos, live performances and advertising campaigns by Madonna; and the adult comic books of German cartoonist Ralf König.