Reading The Bromance

In the middle of this century’s first decade, “bromance” emerged as a term denoting an emotionally intense bond between straight men. Yet bromance requires an expression of intimacy that always toys with being coded as something other than “straight” male behavior, even as it insists that such intimacy must never be misinterpreted. In Reading the Bromance: Homosocial Relationships in Film and Television, editor Michael DeAngelis has compiled a diverse group of essays that address the rise of this tricky phenomenon and explore the social and cultural functions it serves. Contributors consider selected contemporary film and television texts, as well as the genres that historically inspired them, in order to explore what needs bromance attempts to fulfill in relationships between men—straight or otherwise. Essays analyze films ranging from I Love You, Man to Superbad, Humpday, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, The Hangover, and the Jackass films, and include studies of representative examples in international cinema such as Y tu mama tambien and classic and contemporary films of the Bollywood genre. The volume also examines the increasingly prevalent appearance of the bromance phenomenon in television narratives, from the “male bonding” rituals of Friends and Seinfeld to more recent manifestations in House, The Wire, and the MTV reality series Bromance. From historical analysis to discourse analysis, sociological analysis, and queer theory, this volume provides a broad range of methodological and theoretical approaches to the phenomenon in the first booklength study of the bromance genre. Film and television scholars as well as readers interested in pop culture and queer studies will enjoy the insights of Reading the Bromance.

The first rule of book club: You don't talk about book club. Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. Welcome to the Bromance Book Club. Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.

This comprehensive work presents a thorough exploration of celebrity ‘bromances,’ interrogating how bromances are portrayed in media and consumed by audiences to examine themes of celebrity persona, performativity, and authenticity. The authors examine how the performance of intimate male friendships functions within broadly ‘Western’ celebrity culture from three primary perspectives: construction of persona; interactions with audiences and fans; and commodification. Case studies from film and television are used to illustrate the argument that, regardless of their authenticity (real or staged), bromances are useful for engaging audiences and creating an extension of entertainment beyond the film the actors originally sought to promote. The first truly interdisciplinary study of its kind, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of communications, advertising, marketing, Internet studies, media, journalism, cultural studies, and film and television.

The first rule of book club: You don't talk about book club. Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. Welcome to the Bromance Book Club. Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.

Amazon Book Review's No. 1 Best Romance of 2019 and one of Bustle's '21 New Rom-Coms Out In Fall 2019 To Give You Warm And Fuzzy Feelings All Season Long'! If you love Jasmine Guillory, Sally Thorne and Helen Hoang, you'll LOVE Lyssa Kay Adams! Readers can't stop raving about The Bromance Book Club! 'Romantic comedy at its finest' 'Completely lived up to the hype' 'The perfect blend of funny, wacky moments and also sexy and angsty moments' 'I didn't expect to read a new favourite but The Bromance Book Club has gone and done it!' 'I would recommend this to anyone who wants to escape into a book for a few hours and come out with a smile' 'This book made me feel warm and fuzzy. It was like being hugged, but in a sexy way - what more could you want?' 'I loved the emotional range it took me through, from laugh-out-loud moments to real tear-jerking scenes' The first rule of book club: You don't talk about book club. Gavin Scott's marriage is trouble. The Nashville Legends baseball star has recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. His reaction to the revelation is the final straw for their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he's let his pride and fear get the better of him. Welcome to the Bromance Book Club. Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency called Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his beloved wife. Praise for The Bromance Book Club: 'A you're-gonna-burn-dinner book because you will not want to put it down. Laugh out loud with tons of heart, this is an absolutely adorable must read' Avery Flynn, USA Today bestselling author 'A delight!...I raced to finish this book, but still never wanted it to end!' Alexa Martin, author of Intercepted 'A delightful, fast-paced read with the perfect mix of laugh-out-loud and swoony moments - every town should have a Bromance Book Club' Evie Dunmore, author of Bringing Down the Duke 'It is the reading aloud in this story that ultimately wins my heart, and shows that everything worth knowing can be learned from romance' kc dyer, author of Finding Fraser Don't miss the next Bromance Book Club reads! Undercover Bromance is out now and Crazy Stupid Bromance is available to preorder! 9781472271686

The Bromance Book Club was one of Bustle's '21 Rom-Coms To Give You Warm And Fuzzy Feelings All Season Long'! If you love Ali Hazelwood, Sally Thorne and Helen Hoang, you'll LOVE Lyssa Kay Adams! Readers say ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐! 'If you're looking for a feel-good contemporary romance then look no further' 'This is becoming my favourite romance series. This third instalment maybe the best one yet' 'I cannot even begin to explain how much I love this series! It was sweet and clever and entertaining and had a lovely mix of comedy and seriousness that kept me reading well into the night. Brilliant!!' 'Crazy Stupid Bromance has all the magic I loved about the original . . . A cute, wholesome romance with excellent family dynamics and a realistic show of overcoming one's demons to become a better person' ......................................................................... Has the Bromance Book Club met its greatest challenge? Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef's sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they're sisters and to make a life-altering request. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts - her best friend, Noah Logan. Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a security expert, using his old skills only for the right cause. But Noah has a secret: he's madly in love with Alexis and has never found the right moment to confess his crush. Now that Alexis needs him more than ever, luckily The Bromance Book Club are on hand with their trusty 'manuals' to guide this romance-novel-sceptic out of the friend zone and into taking a shot at the best relationship he's ever had... ......................................................................... Raves for The Bromance Book Club: 'A you're-gonna-burn-dinner book because you will not want to put it down. Laugh out loud with tons of heart, this is an absolutely adorable must read' AVERY FLYNN 'A delight! . . . I raced to finish this book, but still never wanted it to end!' ALEXA MARTIN 'A delightful, fast-paced read with the perfect mix of laugh-out-loud and swoony moments - every town should have a Bromance Book Club' EVIE DUNMORE 'It is the reading aloud in this story that ultimately wins my heart, and shows that everything worth knowing can be learned from romance' KC DYER Don't miss any of the charming and swoonworthy Bromance Book Club reads! The Bromance Book Club Undercover Bromance Crazy Stupid Bromance Isn't It Bromantic? A Very Merry Bromance

As the horrific events of September 11, 2001, slip deeper into the past, the significance of 9/11 remains a global cultural touchstone. Initially, filmmakers, writers, and other artists wrangled with its meaning, often relying on fantastical, ethnic, or exceptionalist themes to address the psychic dread of the terrorist attacks. Over time, however, more nuanced and socio-historical perspectives about 9/11 and its impact on America and the world have emerged. In Representing 9/11: Trauma, Ideology, and Nationalism in Literature, Film, and Television, prominent authors from a variety of disciplines demonstrate how emergent American and international texts expand upon and complicate the initial post-9/11 canon. Editor Paul Petrovic has assembled a collection of essays that broadens our understanding of how popular culture has addressed 9/11, particularly as it has evolved over time. Contributors bring fresh readings to popular novels, such as Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City and Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom; films like Zero Dark Thirty and This Is the End; and television shows such as 24 and Homeland. Showcasing a diverse range of viewpoints, essays in this collection assess, among other topics, how African American identity is challenged by post-9/11 allegories; how superhero films foretell the inevitability of city-wide destruction by terrorists; and how shows like Breaking Bad problematize ideas of liberalism and masculinity. Though primarily aimed at scholars, Representing 9/11 seeks to engage readers interested in how various forms of media have interpreted the events and aftermath of the terrorist attacks in 2001.

This collection of essays presents a sampling of film and television texts, interrogating images of U.S. masculinity. Rather than using “postfeminist” as a definition of contemporary feminism, this collection uses the term to designate the period from the late 1980s on—as a point when feminist thought gradually became more mainstream. The movies and TV series examined here have achieved a level of sustained attention, from critical acclaim, to mass appeal, to cult status. Instead of beginning with a set hypothesis on the effect of the feminist movement on images of masculinity on film and television, these chapters represent a range of responses, that demonstrate how the conversations within these texts about American masculinity are often open-ended, allowing both male characters and male viewers a wider range of options. Defining the relationship between U.S. masculinity and American feminist movements of the twentieth century is a complex undertaking. The essays collected for this volume engage prominent film and television texts that directly interrogate images of U.S. masculinity that have appeared since second-wave feminism. The contributors have chosen textual examples whose protagonists actively struggle with the conflicting messages about masculinity. These protagonists are more often works-in-progress, acknowledging the limits of their negotiations and self-actualization. These chapters also cover a wide range of genres and decades: from action and fantasy to dramas and romantic comedy, from the late 1970s to today. Taken together, the chapters of Screening Images of American Masculinity in the AgeofPostfeminism interrogate “the possible” screened in popular movies and television series, confronting the multiple and competing visions of masculinity not after or beyond feminism but, rather, in its very wake.