Straight White Men Can't Dance

This book analyses movement from white men on screen in order to discern how dance in American popular culture reflects gender and race ideologies. In particular, it focuses on the 'straight white man can't dance' trope and how it is used to leverage status and influence.

Introduction: The Straight White Man Dance: An Origin Story

Chapter 1: Eddie Murphy, the Reagan Administration and the Great American Wimp

Chapter 2: "Take Me to the Place Where the White Boys Dance": Tom Hanks's Manchild and Steve Carell's Buffoon

Chapter 3: Be a Man: Swayze's Beefcake, Squier's Fall from Grace, Bing's Homophobia, and the Lonely Island's Parody

Chapter 4: "Pretty Fly for a White Guy": Hughes's Modern-Day Minstrel, Ronald Miller's African Tribal Ritual, and Napoleon Dynamite's Triumphant Debut

Chapter 5: "Just Bumbling Around": Gondry's Wallflower, the Justins' White Negro, and Jonze's Robots

Chapter 6: Madmen Unite: Patrick Bateman, A Clockwork Orange, and the Joker

Conclusion: "C'mon, Will You Dance, My Darling? And We'll Get There Yet"

Bibliography

Index