Impossible Bodies: Femininity and Masculinity at the Movies

Description

Impossible Bodies investigates issues of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality at the margins of contemporary Hollywood. Examining stars from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood to Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Lopez, Holmlund focuses on actors whose physique or appearance marks them as unusual or exceptional, and yet who occupy key and revealing positions in today's mainstream cinema. Exploring a range of genres and considering both stars and their sidekicks, Holmlund examines ways in which Hollywood accommodates - or doesn't - a variety of 'impossible' bodies, from the 'outrageous' physiques of Dolph Lundgren and Dolly Parton, to the almost-invisible bodies of Asian-Americans, Latinas and older actors. From the Pumping Iron documentaries to The Quick and the Dead and Boys on the Side , Holmlund traces the broad shifts and startling disjunctures in what count as desirable images of masculinity and feminity in mainstream cinema. From lesbian killers to Swedes who never play Swedes, Impossible Bodies considers how representations of ethnicity and race, gender and sexuality are played out in contemporary Hollywood films, and shows how popular cinema reflects and communicat contemporary values for audiences.

Chris Holmlund is Associate Professorin Cinema Studfies and Women's Studies at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is the co-editor of Between the Sheets, in the Streets: Queer, Lesbian, Gay Documentary (Minnesota UP, 1997).

"Chris Holmlund offers a view of contemporary cinema as outrageous as it is unexpected. This is not the Hollywood we thought we knew. Only Holmlund could bring together such a diverse and stimulating collection of onscreen bodies whose vague promises put us in all sorts of compromised positions as viewers and as consumers....an essential guide to the ways in which genre conventions resolve sexual, racial and class differences. Don't go to the movies without it!."
-Chon A. Noriega, University of California, Los Angeles
"An outstanding collection of essays.... displays a consistently light touch, is impressively researched and covers an astonishing range of fields. The quality of argument is outstanding; the writing is scholarly, yet witty and passionate. Holmlund always resists easy shots, pointing the reader to the more complex questions that lie beneath. This is certain to be an invaluable book."
-Yvonne Tasker, University of East Anglia
""Impossible Bodies is a valuable work for anyone interested in depictions of the body in film, and all of the glorious messiness that entails."
-Meredith Guthrie, Bowling Green State University, "Film and History, 2004
"Holmlund's book is not only a pleasurable read but also a valuable text for feminist and gay and lesbian film theorists as well as critical race theorists."
-Marnie Binfield "The Velvet Light Trap, 2004
""Impossible Bodies is a valuable work for anyone interested in depictions of the body in film, and all of the glorious messiness that entails."
-"Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies, 2004