Pops in Pop Culture (eBook)

Elizabeth Podnieks is Associate Professor of English and the Graduate Program in Communication and Culture at Ryerson University, Canada. She is the author of Daily Modernism: The Literary Diaries of Virginia Woolf, Antonia White, Elizabeth Smart, and Anaïs Nin (2000); the co-editor of Textual Mothers/Maternal Texts: Motherhood in Contemporary Women’s Literatures (2009); and the editor of Mediating Moms: Mothers in Popular Culture (2012), awarded the Outstanding Scholarship (2012-2013) Prize by the Canadian Women’s and Gender Studies et Recherches Féministes. She is the Area Chair (2012-ongoing) for the Motherhood/Fatherhood Area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association.

Cover 1
Half-Title 2
Title 4
Copyright 5
Dedication 6
Contents 8
Foreword 10
Preface 14
Acknowledgments 18
Introduction: Pops in Pop Context 20
Section I: Self-Defining Dads: Autobiography, Paternal Lessons, and Narrative Performance 47
1 Pappahandbooks: Guidebooks for Dads in Twenty-First Century Sweden 48
2 Fatherhood, Feminism, and Failure in Louis C.K.’s Comedy 68
3 “Daddy Time All the Time”: Representations of Involved Fatherhood in Contemporary Dadoirs 84
4 Daddyblogs Know Best: Histories of Fatherhood in the Cyber Age 104
Section II: “Real” Men: Brawn, Power, and Protection 121
5 Ads and Dads: TV Commercials and Contemporary Attitudes Toward Fatherhood 122
6 Hard Bodies, Soft Hearts: Mixed-Race Men as Muscular Daddies in the Films of Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson 140
7 Contemporary Crime-Fighting Dads: Negotiating Masculinity and Fathering in 24 and Castle 156
8 Tale of Two Fathers: Authenticating Fatherhood in Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us 174
Section III: Economics and Emotions: Providers, Pals, and Nurturers 192
9 Breaking Dad: Reimagining Postwar Models of American Fatherhood in Breaking Bad 193
10 Masculinity, Subjectivities, and Caregiving in the British Press: The Case of the Stay-at-Home Father 209
11 A Sentimental Fathering Model: Alexander McCall Smith’s Vision for Nurturing Paternity in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series 227
12 Modern Fathers in Modern Family: The Impact of Generational Differences on Fatherhood Styles 247
Notes on Contributors 264
Index 267