Detecting Men

Detecting Men
Author: Philippa Gates
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0791481387

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.

Becoming Jack Nicholson

Becoming Jack Nicholson
Author: Shaun R. Karli
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2012-11-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0810885999

One of the most celebrated figures in the world of cinema, Jack Nicholson has appeared in more than fifty films, stamping each with his larger-than-life presence. Because Nicholson brought a set of traits and attitudes with him to his roles that the actor and filmmakers variously inflected, audiences associated certain characteristics with his screen identity. At times his rebelliousness was celebrated as an act of self-expression against an oppressive system (Five Easy Pieces, The Passenger, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), and at others it was revealed as an absurd masculine fantasy (The Last Detail, Chinatown, and The Shining). In each, the actor embodies an inherent tension between a desire to make authentic choices and a pressure to conform to societal expectations of manly behavior. In Becoming Jack Nicholson: The Masculine Persona from Easy Rider to The Shining, Shaun Karli looks at the actor’s on-screen presence in eight key films between 1969 and 1980. Karli explores how in each of these films, the actor and the filmmakers played upon audience expectations of “Jack Nicholson” to challenge prevailing attitudes about masculinity and power. Focusing on the actor's image in a string of counterculture films that spanned the 1970s, Karli argues that audiences created a composite "understanding" of the Nicholson persona in these movies. Examining both the actor and the on-screen version of the Nicholson character, this book offers a fascinating look at one of the major screen figures of the past forty years. Becoming Jack Nicholson will appeal to scholars of cinema, but also to those interested in gender studies, American studies, and sociology.

Early Detection of Prostate Cancer, An Issue of Urologic Clinics

Early Detection of Prostate Cancer, An Issue of Urologic Clinics
Author: Stacy Loeb
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2014-05-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0323297269

PSA screening remains highly controversial due to several important disadvantages. More PSA is produced with prostatic enlargement and in other benign conditions such as urinary tract infections. False positive tests can then lead to unnecessary diagnostic workup with invasive prostate biopsy. Another major problem with screening programs in general is overdiagnosis of cancers that would not have caused harm during the patient's lifetime. For example, many prostate cancers have a relatively indolent behavior so may not require diagnosis or treatment in a patient with limited life expectancy. All forms of prostate cancer treatment have potential urinary and sexual side effects, so reducing overdiagnosis and overtreatment are critical public health issues. Because screening has many proven benefits but also significant harms, there are widely disparate guidelines on prostate cancer screening from major organizations worldwide. This issue of the Urologic Clinics will provide insights into the many different prostate cancer guidelines and related policy issues.

The Media and the Models of Masculinity

The Media and the Models of Masculinity
Author: Mark Moss
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2012-07-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0739166263

Mark Moss's The Media and the Models of Masculinity details the impact that the mass media has upon men's sense of identity, style, and deportment. From advertising to television shows, mass consumer culture defines and identifies how men select and sort what is fashionable and acceptable. Utilizing a large mine of mediated imagery, men and boys construct and define how to dress, act, and comport themselves. By engaging critical discussions on everything from fashion, to domestic space, to sports and beyond, readers are privy to a modern and fascinating account of the diverse and dominant perceptions of and on Western masculine culture. Historical tropes and models are especially important in this construction and influence and impact contemporary variations.

Millennial Masculinity

Millennial Masculinity
Author: Timothy Shary
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2012-12-17
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0814338445

Film and television scholars as well as readers interested in gender and sexuality in film will appreciate this timely collection.

Action, Detection and Shane Black

Action, Detection and Shane Black
Author: Nils Bothmann
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2018-11-11
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 3658240784

Nils Bothmann applies antiessentialist genre theory to study the fusion of the action and the detection genre in the hybrid genre of detAction, focusing on the work of screenwriter and director Shane Black. After providing antiessentialist definitions of all three genres, the author undertakes close readings of Black’s work in order to analyze depictions of race and gender as well as the role of intermediality and genre hybridity in detAction.​

The Gay Male Sleuth in Print and Film

The Gay Male Sleuth in Print and Film
Author: Drewey Wayne Gunn
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 443
Release: 2013
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0810885883

In The Gay Male Sleuth in Print and Film (2005), scholar Drewey Wayne Gunn examined the history of gay detectives beginning with the first recognized gay novel, The Heart in Exile, which appeared in 1953. In the years since the original edition's publication, hundreds of novels and short stories in this sub-genre have been produced, and Gunn has unearthed many additional representations previously unrecorded. In this new edition, Gunn provides an overview of milestones in the development of gay detectives over the last several decades. Also included in this volume is an annotated list of novels, short stories, plays, graphic novels, comic strips, films, and television series with gay detectives, gay sleuths of secondary importance, and non-sleuthing gay policemen. The most complete listing available--including the only listing of early gay pulp novels, present-day male-to-male romances, and erotic films--this new edition brings the work up to date with publications missed in the first edition, particularly cross-genre mysteries, early pulps, and some hard-to-find volumes. The Gay Male Sleuth in Print and Film: A History and Annotated Bibliography lists all printed works in English (including translations) presently known to include gay detectives (such as amateur sleuths, police detectives, private investigators, and investigative reporters), from the 1929 play Rope until the present day. It includes all films in English, subtitled or dubbed, from the screen version of Rope in 1948 and the launch of the independent film Spy on the Fly in 1966 through the end of 2011. Complete with two appendices--a bibliography of sources and a list of Lambda Literary Awards--and indexes of titles, detectives, and actors, this extensively revised and updated reference will prove invaluable to mystery collectors, researchers, aficionados of the subgenre, and those devoted to GLBTQ studies.

Law Enforcement in American Cinema, 1894-1952

Law Enforcement in American Cinema, 1894-1952
Author: George Beck
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2020-10-22
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1476640653

Widespread law enforcement or formal policing outside of cities appeared in the early 20th century around the same time the early film industry was developing--the two evolved in tandem, intersecting in meaningful ways. Much scholarship has focused on portrayals of the criminal in early American cinema, yet little has been written about depictions of the criminal's antagonist. This history examines how different on-screen representations shifted public perception of law enforcement--initially seen as a suspicious or intrusive institution, then as a power for the common good.

A History of Male Psychological Disorders in Britain, 1945-1980

A History of Male Psychological Disorders in Britain, 1945-1980
Author: Alison Haggett
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2015-09-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1137448881

This book is open access under a CC BY license and explores the under-researched history of male mental illness from the mid-twentieth century. It argues that statistics suggesting women have been more vulnerable to depression and anxiety are misleading since they underplay a host of alternative presentations of 'distress' more common in men.