The Thrill Makers: Celebrity, Masculinity, and Stunt Performance

by Jacob Smith

Book Overview

Well before Evel Knievel or Hollywood stuntmen, reality television or the X Games, North America had a long tradition of stunt performance, of men (and some women) who sought media attention and popular fame with public feats of daring. Many of these feats--jumping off bridges, climbing steeples and buildings, swimming incredible distances, or doing tricks with wild animals--had their basis in the manual trades or in older entertainments like the circus. In The Thrill Makers, Jacob Smith shows how turn-of-the-century bridge jumpers, human flies, lion tamers, and stunt pilots first drew crowds to their spectacular displays of death-defying action before becoming a crucial, yet often invisible, component of Hollywood film stardom. Smith explains how these working-class stunt performers helped shape definitions of American manhood, and pioneered a form of modern media celebrity that now occupies an increasingly prominent place in our contemporary popular culture.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520270894
• ISBN13: 9780520270893
• Release Date: May 2012
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.9"