Postfeminism and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema

Much ground has been covered in terms of (post)feminist analyses of popular film and television, and box office successes such as Bridget Jones's Diary and television phenomena such as Sex and the City have become established parts of the now canonical critical texts on postfeminism, media and popular culture. By analyzing the negotiation of femininities and masculinities within contemporary Hollywood cinema, by charting trends in film production and media reception, and by focusing on the largely neglected intersections between postfeminism and queer theory, Postfeminism and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema presents diverse interrogations of popular cinema. The chapters in this collection position contemporary commercial production as a space where female empowerment is both celebrated and undermined, and signal the necessity of further debate surrounding the formation of gender identity in postmillennial Hollywood cinema.

Joel Gwynne is Assistant Professor of English at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. He is the co-editor of Sexuality and Contemporary Literature (with A.Poon, 2012) and author of E rotic Memoirs and Postfeminism: The Politics of Pleasure (2013).

Nadine Muller is Lecturer in English Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University. Her research covers Victorian and neo-Victorian literature and culture, feminist theory and practice, and cultural histories of women and gender from the nineteenth century to the present day. She is currently working on two book projects: The Feminist Politics of Neo-Victorian Fiction, 2000-2010 and The Widow in British Literature and Culture, 1850-2010.

Introduction: Postfeminism and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema; Joel Gwynne and Nadine Muller
PART I: POSTFEMINIST FEMININITIES
1. Neo-Feminism In-Between: Female Cosmopolitan Subjects in Contemporary American Film; Ana Moya
2. Querying Postfeminism in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right; Clara Bradbury-Rance
3. The Slut that Wasn't: Virginity, (Post)Feminism and Representation in Easy A; Katherine Farrimond
4. The Girls of Zeta: Sororities, Ideal Femininity and the Makeover Paradigm in The House Bunny; Joel Gwynne
5. Ageing Appropriately: Postfeminist Discourses of Ageing in Contemporary Hollywood; Imelda Whelehan
PART II: POSTFEMINIST MASCULINITIES
6. 'Chuck Flick': A Genealogy of the Postfeminist Male Singleton; Benjamin A. Brabon
7. The Chick's 'New Hero': (Re)Constructing Masculinity in the Postfeminist 'Chick Flick'; Amy Burns
8. Hollywood Fatherhood: Paternal Postfeminism in Contemporary Popular Cinema; Hanna Hamad
9. Mancaves and Cushions: Marking Masculine and Feminine Domestic Space in Postfeminist Romantic Comedy; Lauren Jade Thompson
10. 'We're not making forward progress': Postfeminist Hypermasculinity in Heat; Vincent M. Gaine
PART III: POSTFEMINISM AND GENRE
11. Towards a New Sexual Conservatism in Postfeminist Romantic Comedy; Alexia Bowler
12. Hell is a Teenage Girl? Postfeminism and Contemporary Teen Horror; Martin Fradley
13. 'A New Feminist Revolution in Hollywood Comedy'?: Postfeminist Discourses and the Critical Reception of Bridesmaids; Helen Warner
14. Blood, Sweat and Tears: Women, Sport and Hollywood; Katharina Lindner