Blood, Guns, and Testosterone: Action Films, Audiences, and a Thirst for Violence »

Blood, Guns, and Testosterone: Action Films, Audiences, and a Thirst for Violence is a study of the modern action film as a symbolic art of masculinity and a study of this genre's fans who discuss the functions film violence fulfills in their lives. Far from causing real life violence, the book demonstrates that entertainment violence has important social, political, and psychological roles in modern society.

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Violence and Much More ix

Part I The Controversies, the Crisis, and the Films

1 The History of a Modern Crisis 3

2 The Audience Matters 23

3 The Modern American Action Film 35

Part II The Audience

4 The Need for Speed: The Appeal of Fast-Paced Storytelling 63

5 Mirror Image: Finding a Personal, Social, and Moral Identity in the Action Film 85

6 Man Talk: Managing the Modern Male Identity (Crisis) in the Genre 139

7 The Opposition: Men with a Challenge-Managing a Well-Deserved "Crisis" 175

8 What Women Want: Women Talk about Modern Masculinity in the Action Film 187

9 Bloody Fun: The Appeal of Watching Violence 211

10 Conclusion: I'll Be Back? The Future of Action and Masculinityjn Popular Culture 229

Bibliography 241

Index 249

About the Author 259