Universitätsverlag Winter
Arnold Schwarzenegger; interdisciplinary perspectives on body and image.
Butter (language and literature, Freiberg Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany) et al. assemble 11 essays presented by history, political science, art history, and media, film, cultural, and American studies scholars from Europe and the US at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies in September 2009. The essays analyze Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of body and image as a way to understand larger issues in American history, culture, and politics. They discuss the influence of bodybuilding on American culture, and Schwarzenegger's role in the process; how he perpetuated ideas of masculinity and femininity in his advice books; gender ideas in the documentary Pumping Iron II; bodybuilding as art; his image, character, and use of his body in films; how his image affected his political career and ideology, which changed to focusing on a green economy; and his story as an immigrant pursuing the American Dream. There is no index. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)