Men, Action Films, and Contemporary Adventure Narratives

I am fortunate and grateful to have had many scholars, friends, and family to help me refine my understanding of late-twentieth-century active masculinity. Kathleen Karlyn consistently challenged me to perform the most rigorous, professional scholarship, and her extensive commentary on my work has left a permanent, positive imprint on my writing and thinking. I am particularly indebted as well to the following scholars, all of whom offered extensive support and criticism: at the University of Oregon, Julia Lesage and Janet Wasko; at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, Ian Duncan; at Oklahoma State University, Leonard and Linda Leff, Edward Jones, and Jeff Walker; at Georgia State University, Jack Boozer and Niklas Vollmer; and at the University of Missouri, Bill Kerwin, Andy Hoberek, and Brad Prager. Thanks also to all those who read and provided valuable feedback on manuscript chapters, including Jean Amato, Susannah Beck, Tom Billings, Andy Deck, Kevin Gallagher, Anne Gallagher Billings, Michael Pebworth, Erich Reed, and Michele Ricci. I owe thanks also to Tom Atkins, Karen Eng, Aron Golden, Todd Henry, Adam Kitzes, Mark Meritt, Nate and Mark Nichols, Meredith Webb, Lea Williams, Peter Witkow, and Dan Wojcik for their roles in my professional and personal development. Portions of some chapters were previously published in different forms. An earlier version of chapter 2 appeared as “ ‘I Married Rambo’: Spectacle and Melodrama in the Hollywood Action Film” in Mythologies of Violence in Postmodern Media, ed. Christopher Sharrett (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999). Earlier versions of chapter 5 appeared as “Masculinity in Translation: Jackie Chan’s Transcultural Star Text,” in Velvet Light Trap 39 (Spring 1997); and also as “Rumble in the USA: Jackie Chan in Translation,” in Film Stars: Hollywood and Beyond, ed. Andy Willis (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2004). Thanks to the editors for their permission to include this material. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments on this manuscript. Most of all, thanks to Elaine Roth, who has spent years cultivating and critiquing my own somewhat active masculinity and without whose love and patience this work would not have been possible. I dedicate this book to her.