Male action heroes and the racialized body

In this entry the academic debates centred around the male action hero and the racialized body are discussed. Being known as a genre in which mostly hyperbolic male white bodies are on display, issues of gender and race representation are evidently of great importance in studying the action film. How different racial identities, such as black, white, Asian, and multiracial bodies function within the genre, and how these bodies interact with discourses of masculinity, will foremost be discussed. On the one hand, the different authors contributing to these debates navigate between a type of appreciation for how the genre has succeeded in giving non-white bodies a more prominent place in the Hollywood landscape. On the other, a rightfully critical attitude to these representations is adopted, since still too often these non-white bodies are positioned as inferior into racial hierarchies favouring a form of symbolic whiteness.

ISBN:9781119429104

Publication year:2020

Keywords:Masculinity, Gender, Race, Action Cinema, Whiteness