Neal King

Projects:

I study the ways in which people make use of media violence and concepts of agency. Using various data, from public commentaries and survey data to the content of film genres, I show how filmmakers use media violence to advance their careers; evangelical Christians use it to draw moral lines; young men use sexual violence to bond with each other affirm their authority and status over their victims; and rape educators use media violence to undermine that male power. Also, I and Toni Calasanti research expressions of ageism and agency in popular and academic culture.

Research interests:

Social Inequality (masculinity among old men)
Culture (production of genres; gendered violence in film and television)
Social Theory (scholarly and lay concepts of agency and empowerment, micro & macro)

Selected Publications:

Books

Neal King. Controversies: The Passion of the Christ. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. (Read the first chapter.)

Martha McCaughey and Neal King (Eds.). Reel Knockouts: Violent Women in the Movies. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.

Neal King. Heroes in Hard Times: Cop Action Movies in the U.S. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999.

Articles and Chapters

Neal King. "Calling Dirty Harry a Liar: A critique of displacement theories of popular criminology" New Review of Film & Television Studies, forthcoming in 2013.

Toni Calasanti, lkka Pietilä, Hanna Ojala, and Neal King." Men, bodily control, and health behaviors: The importance of age." Health Psychology, forthcoming in 2013.

Neal King. "Men and aging." In Jean-Anne Sutherland & Kathrn Feltey, eds., Cinematic Sociology, 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge, forthcoming in 2012.

Neal King. "Feelings and fire fights: Gendered performance in cop action climaxes." In Tim Shary, ed., Millennial Masculinity. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, forthcoming in 2012..

Toni Calasanti, Amy Sorensen, and Neal King. "Anti-aging Advertisements and Perceptions of Aging." In Virpi Ylänne, ed., Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming in 2012.

Toni Calasanti & Neal King. "A Feminist Lens on the Third Age: Refining the Framework." In Dawn Carr and Kathrin Komp, eds., Gerontology in the Era of the Third Age. NY: Springer, 2011.

Neal King. "Old Cops: Occupational Aging in a Film Genre." In Valerie Barnes Lipscomb & Leni Marshall, eds., Staging Age: The Performance of Age in Theatre, Dance, and Film. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Neal King and Toni Calasanti. "Aging Agents: Scholarly imputations of empowerment." International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Winter 2009.

Neal King. "Secret Agency: Elements of postmodernism in mainstream cinema," Postmodern Culture 18, 3 (2008).

Neal King. "Generic Womanhood: Gendered depictions in cop action cinema," Gender & Society 22, 2(2008): 238-60.

Neal King. "Mediated Ritual on Academic Ground," Fast Capitalism 3, 1(2007)

Toni M. Calasanti & Neal King. "'Beware of the Estrogen Assault': Ideals of Old Manhood in Anti-aging Advertisements" Journal of Aging Studies, 21, 4(2007).

Toni M. Calasanti & Neal King. "Taking Women's Work 'Like a Man': Husbands’ Experiences of Care Work," The Gerontologist 47, 4(2007): 516-27.

Toni M. Calasanti, Kate Slevin, and Neal King. "Ageism and Feminism" NWSA Journal, Spring 2006.

Neal King. “The Lengthening List: Age relations in political economy.” In Toni Calasanti & Kathleen Slevin, eds., Age Matters: Re-aligning Feminist Thinking. NY: Routledge. 2006.

Neal King and Toni Calasanti. “Empowering the Old: Age relations and anti-aging in a global context.” In Jan Baars, Chris Phillipson, Dale Dannefer, and Alan Walker, eds., Aging, Globalisation and Inequality: The New Critical Gerontology. NY: Baywood. 2005.

Toni M. Calasanti and Neal King. “Firming the Floppy Penis: Old Men, age relations, and popular culture,” Men and Masculinities 8, 1(2005): 3-23.

Neal King. “Dead End Days: The sacrifice of displaced workers on film,” Journal of Film and Video 56, 2(2004): 32-44.

Neal King. “Truth At Last: Evangelical communities embrace The Passion of The Christ.” In S. Brent Plate, ed., Re-Viewing the Passion: Mel Gibson’s Film and Its Critics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Neal King. “Knowing Women: Straight men and sexual certainty,” Gender & Society 17, 6(2003): 861-77.

Neal King. “Brownskirts: Fascism, Christianity, and the eternal demon.” In James South, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy. New York: Open Court Press, 2003.

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