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Harrison Ford

Masculinity and Stardom in Hollywood

Virginia Luzon Aguado author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:30th Jan '18

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Harrison Ford cover

A critical study of the American actor Harrison Ford in relation to his star persona, masculinity and the ageing celebrity.

A comprehensive study of Harrison Ford’s stardom in relation to changing ideals of masculinity in Hollywood.Harrison Ford is known for such iconic roles as Hans Solo, Indiana Jones and Rick Deckard – but his career of fifty years (and counting) encompasses a plethora of other thought-provoking roles. His off-screen persona has been no less intriguing. Covering a wide timespan, this book assesses Harrison Ford as `star’ from the difficult Hollywood studio years where he began, his blockbusters of the 1980s, through to the impact of ageist culture on his artistry of recent years. The author argues that Ford has generally been seen as a potent, irresistible combination of tradition and modernity. He is an actor who both reflects and utilises changing ideas about American masculinity in the context of Hollywood film production: particular male types are revealed as much in his trademark trustworthy hero act as in his more fallible, less conservative and therefore commercially riskier characters. Luzon Aguado explores these particular star identities and every fluctuation in between. She gives due attention to his much-neglected acting abilities while examining the crucial interplay between star persona and the constraints and conventions of genre. Going beyond standard accounts of Ford’s production and pinpointing overlooked aspects of his work, and the creation of the star through cultural artefacts like magazine interviews and advertising campaigns, this book reveals the depth and dimensions of the enduring American screen legend that is Harrison Ford.

Extremely informative and well written … I would recommend this book to any film lover who has a particular interest in Harrison Ford and masculinity in Hollywood. * Film Matters *
Harrison Ford: Masculinity and Stardom in Hollywood offers a comprehensive look into Ford’s career … The book is indeed an essential contribution to masculinity and star studies. * Miscelánea *
In nearly a half-century of gender-bending, genre-pivoting Hollywood films, Harrison Ford has altered cinematic expectations for what it means to be a man. And no one has explored those performances so well as Virginia Luzón-Aguado. “The rapscallion of the universe” in Star Wars; the “heroic maverick” Indiana Jones; the vulnerable action-adventurer in dozens of blockbuster breakthroughs: she reveals an actor uniquely able to configure an oddly winning mix of brains and perplexity, paternal comfort and restrained anger, charm and patriotism as no other star of the past fifty years. -- Lee Clark Mitchell, Holmes Professor of Belles-Lettres, English Department, Princeton University, USA
Virginia Luzón-Aguado has written a brilliant analysis of Harrison Ford as Hollywood icon. Crisp writing and smart assessment of Ford’s major films and dozens more essential in understanding his magnitude. Few stars shine brighter than Ford. This book enables you to understand why. -- Bob Batchelor, author, Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel
[Luzón-Aguado] succeeds thoroughly in demonstrating the complexity of the triangular connection between the man, the star, and the roles, showing how audience demands limit key choices. * Nexus *

ISBN: 9781788310925

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

304 pages