Description:
Popular culture in the latter half of the 20th century precipitated a change in style and body image. Postwar film, television, radio shows, pulp fiction and comics placed heroic types firmly within public consciousness. This book concentrates on the evolution of these types from the postwar era and their relationship to present-day fashion.
Review Quotes:
"This book makes an invaluable contribution to the rapidly emerging field of masculinity and gender studies by providing innovative, critical insights into the impact of historic and contemporary popular culture icons and archetypes on the formation and expression of male identity and multiple masculinities. This engaging exploration of the origins and existence of contemporary male icons from vampires and hipsters to Barbie's Ken, exposes the socio-cultural contradictions that they espouse in their representation of dynamic masculinities. Finally we have a book that will spark lively interactions in the classroom and nuanced debates in future scholarship." -- Anne Peirson-Smith, City University of Hong Kong