Deconstructing Dads

Deconstructing dads is an interdisciplinary collection of essays authored by prominent scholars in the fields of media, sociology, and cultural studies who address how media represent the image of the father in popular culture. This collection explores the history of representation of fathers (like the "bumbling dad") and questions how far popular culture has come in its representation of paternal figures. Each chapter of this book focuses on a different aspect of media, including how advertising creates expectations of play and father, crime shows and the new hero father, and men as paternal figures in horror films. The book also explores how specific groups have been represented as fathers, including gay men as dads and Latino fathers in film.