Harrison Ford: Masculinity and Stardom in Hollywood

(Hardback)

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Harrison Ford is known for such iconic roles as Han Solo, Indiana Jones and Rick Deckard - but his career of 50 years (and counting) encompasses a plethora of other thought-provoking roles. His off-screen persona has been no less intriguing. Covering a wide timespan, this book assesses Harrison Ford as 'star' from the difficult Hollywood studio years where he began, his blockbusters of the 1980s, through to the impact of ageist culture on his artistry of recent years. The author argues that Ford has generally been seen as a potent, irresistible combination of tradition and modernity. He is an actor who both reflects and utilises changing ideas about American masculinity in the context of Hollywood film production: particular male types are revealed as much in his trademark trustworthy hero act as in his more fallible, less conservative and therefore commercially riskier characters. Luzon Aguado explores these particular star identities and every fluctuation in between. She gives due attention to his much-neglected acting abilities while examining the crucial interplay between star persona and the constraints and conventions of genre. Going beyond standard accounts of Ford's production and pinpointing overlooked aspects of his work, and the creation of the star through cultural artefacts like magazine interviews and advertising campaigns, this book reveals the depth and dimensions of the enduring American screen legend that is Harrison Ford.

Reviews

Extremely informative and well written I would recommend this book to any film lover who has a particular interest in Harrison Ford and masculinity in Hollywood. * Film Matters *
In nearly a half-century of gender-bending, genre-pivoting Hollywood films, Harrison Ford has altered cinematic expectations for what it means to be a man. And no one has explored those performances so well as Virginia Luzn-Aguado. The rapscallion of the universe in Star Wars; the heroic maverick Indiana Jones; the vulnerable action-adventurer in dozens of blockbuster breakthroughs: she reveals an actor uniquely able to configure an oddly winning mix of brains and perplexity, paternal comfort and restrained anger, charm and patriotism as no other star of the past fifty years. -- Lee Clark Mitchell, Holmes Professor of Belles-Lettres, English Department, Princeton University, USA
Virginia Luzn-Aguado has written a brilliant analysis of Harrison Ford as Hollywood icon. Crisp writing and smart assessment of Fords major films and dozens more essential in understanding his magnitude. Few stars shine brighter than Ford. This book enables you to understand why. -- Bob Batchelor, author, Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel

Author Bio

Virginia Luzon Aguado is a Professor in the Department of English and German Philology at the University of Zaragoza.