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Description
A fresh and long-overdue reassessment of James Dean, examining his life and legacy as a queer man.
Although he died at a heartbreakingly young age and appeared in only a handful of movies, James Dean revolutionized American manhood. As a celebrity and icon, he melded vulnerability with determination, sensitivity with strength, in a way that offered a bracing and-for some-threatening new vision of masculinity. His massive influence and the fascination he has always inspired are inseparable from his identity as a queer man whose complex sexuality shattered the norms of midcentury American society. (When asked whether he was a homosexual, he reportedly said, “I'm certainly not going through life with one hand tied behind my back.”)
Today, even though it is widely accepted that Dean was gay or bisexual, the story of his life and personal character continue to be colored by the prejudices of an earlier era and the work of often unscrupulous biographers and journalists. Drawing on exhaustive new research (including more than four hundred previously secret pages of Dean's personal and business records), Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean is a revelatory reassessment of the man and his legacy. Free from sensationalism-but unafraid to confront the difficult facts of Dean's life-it deploys modern insights into sexual diversity to transform our understanding of James Dean's story, and the stories of boys and men like him.
Product details
Published | Nov 19 2024 |
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Format | Hardback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 320 |
ISBN | 9781493085651 |
Imprint | Applause |
Illustrations | 36 BW Photos |
Dimensions | 9 x 6 inches |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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This eminently readable book clearly describes the anti-gay atmosphere of 1950s Hollywood and the means by which some queer people succeeded nonetheless. Recommended. All readers.
Choice
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[C]olavito's book offers a perceptive study of the strange era that caused Dean such torment…. equally revealing about the media circus that followed Dean's death.
The Independent
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[C]olavito affords an opportunity for us to understand him better. We can see the legend as flawed, complicated and tormented, but also as an incredibly daring, adventurous, creative human being.
Pop Culture Classics
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Jimmy is a fine, juicy reassessment of the iconic star.
The Film Stage