Feeling heroic : affective response and the he-man action film

Using the he-man genre as a case study, this study examines the ways in which film solicits affective responses from the viewer. The he-man genre is defined as those Hollywood action films produced during the 1980s and early 1990s that feature a hardbodied hero as the main protagonist. This study, using a broadly cognitive theorization of affect, examines three specific areas in which these films solicit affective states: the areas of narration, spectacle, and depictions of masculinity and the male body.