Pure Fatherhood and the Hollywood Family Film

This book maps father failure and redemption through three decades of Hollywood family films, revealing how libertarian notions that align agency with autonomy lead to new conflicts for the contemporary father. The films find resolution to these conflicts through a re-gendering of parenting as relationship. In their creation of a 'pure' fatherhood that is valorised as authentic for its lack of parental responsibilities, the films serve to challenge the perception that fathering enacted outside the nuclear family structure is fragile. McNulty Norton finds in the films a new essentialism that secures the pure relationship to the biological father, reinforcing his position in the face of changing family forms.

Features innovative analysis of fathers in forty Hollywood family films Applies post-structuralist theory to extend sociological understanding of the contradictory cultural expectations of contemporary fatherhood Identifies and names the phenomenon of "pure fatherhood"

Auteur
Denise McNulty Norton is an independent researcher. Her research interests include the sociology of free will and the discursive construction of family.

Contenu

1. Introduction.- 2. Hollywood Family Films and the Father Protagonist.- 3. Being A Good Father.- 4. Methodological Considerations.- 5. Choice.- 6. Precarity and Risk.- 7. Responsibility.- 8. Locating Blame.- 9. Voice.- 10. Conclusion.