ABSTRACT
The introduction initially outlines the central questions around the hitherto underrated presence of the father within film and within American cinema in particular. It then goes on to summarise, along with examples of the post-war gender and cinematic discourses, the position that the father is located in American culture and society, with particular reference to the crisis in masculinity and the intellectual discourses and reactions to this phenomenon.
The post-Jungian perspective, methodologies and accompanying theories and sensibilities are also briefly explored in order to outline the main theoretical framework of the book, with particular reference to dangers around relying on post-Jungian symbology. The role of the cultural complex is also briefly touched upon and linked with gender expressions and the post-Jungian perspective on this topic. The dangers of the conservative and reactionary classical Jungian position on gender and why a post-Jungian perspective was chosen with its focus on the potential for psychological gender fluidity are also explored.
There is also a brief breakdown of the book’s structure in terms of chapters and why cinema was chosen over television, even though television is arguably also reflecting what cinema is showing around father hunger and the cultural journeys that the American paternal is embarked upon.
