The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film presents a comprehensive overview and analysis of the history, myriad themes, and critical approaches to the action and adventure genre in American cinema.

• Draws on a wide range of examples, spanning the silent spectacles of early cinema to the iconic superheroes of 21st-century action films

• Features case studies revealing the genre's diverse roots - from westerns and war films, to crime and espionage movies

• Explores a rich variety of aesthetic and thematic concerns that have come to define the genre, touching on themes such as the outsider hero, violence and redemption, and adventure as escape from the mundane

• Integrates discussion of gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality alongside genre history

• Provides a timely and richly revealing portrait of a powerful cinematic genre that has increasingly come to dominate the American cinematic landscape

About the Author
Yvonne Tasker is Professor of Film and Media at the University of East Anglia. She is the author of Spectacular Bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema (1993) and Soldiers' Stories: Military Women in Cinema and Television Since WWII (2011), and editor of Action and Adventure Cinema (2004).

Reviews

"Even for readers familiarised with the previous work of Yvonne Tasker, this book brings a new look into her main area of study, as it presents not only issues pertaining the body and the representation of women in action and adventure, but also more general elements which help understand genre criticism as a whole and the action and adventure film in particular. Furthermore, and as a manual for students of Film Studies, the book fulfils its goal, as it combines the exposition of theory with clear examples, of both how the theory was previously applied and how it can be now employed to analyse the latest productions". (Pop-Zeitschrift, 9 October 2015)

Book Information
ISBN 9780470659250
Author Yvonne Tasker
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 290g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 151mm * 8mm