Examining the changing face of Action Movies and their representations of gender since the release of First Blood, Gender and Action Films 1980-2000 examines masculinity and anxiety through subjects ranging from gender spaces in action films to the buddy cop film. From transformative femininity, motherhood and machoism, action women in contemporary Colombian cinema, reconsidering gender in Jurassic Park, to gender, politics and 80s action – the chapters dive into everything from sword-playing and gun-shooting women and rainbow-coloured riots on Hollywood boulevard.
Gender and Action Films 1980-2000 offers a comprehensive insight into the intertwined concepts of gender and action, and how their portrayal developed in the Action Movie genre during the final two decades of the twentieth century. A necessity for academics, students and lovers of film and media and those interested in gender studies.
Steven Gerrard is Reader of Film at the Northern Film School, Leeds Beckett University.
Renée Middlemost is Lecturer in Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She is the co-founder of FSN Australasia, and a co-editor of Participations.