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Combines psychoanalysis, queer theory, masculinity studies, and cultural studies to explore contemporary manhood in film.
Finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary Award in the LGBT Nonfiction category presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation
Ghost Faces explores the insidious nature of homophobia even in contemporary Hollywood films that promote their own homo-tolerance and appear to destabilize hegemonic masculinity. Reframing Laura Mulvey's and Gilles Deleuze's paradigms and offering close readings grounded in psychoanalysis and queer theory, David Greven examines several key films and genre trends from the late 1990s forward. Movies considered range from the slasher film Scream to bromances and beta male comedies such as I Love You, Man to dramas such as Donnie Darko and 25th Hour to Rob Zombie's remake of the horror film Halloween. Greven also traces the disturbing connections between torture porn found in such films as Hostel and gay male Internet pornography.
"Ghost Faces is a fascinating and important book that will offer film scholars interested in genre and gender much to consider. The book does not rely on production information or industry material, but instead on Greven's application of gender and queer theory in order to read and interpret his chosen films. His readings make readers want to go back and watch the films with fresh eyes, and that is after all what a good piece of film theory and scholarship should do." — Film & History
"...important food for thought in the postmillennial age. Highly recommended." — CHOICE
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Disrecognitions
1. Ghost Faces, Genre Bodies
2. The Murderous Origins of Bromance: Genre, Queer Killers, and Scream
3. "I Love You, Brom Bones": Beta Male Comedies, Bromances, and American Culture
4. Apparitional Men: Masculinity and the Psychoanalytic Scene
5. Trick-or-Treating Alone: Rob Zombie’s Halloween
6. Torture/Porn: Hostel, Homophobia, and Gay Male Internet Pornography
Coda
Notes
Bibliography
Index