SHAPING THE SUPERMAN

ISBN-13: 978-0-7146-8013-2
Cass Series: Sport in the Global Society
General Editor: J. A. Mangan
Editor: J. A. Mangan
Τitle: Shaping The Superman
Subtitle: Fascist Body as Political Icon - Aryan Fascism
Foreword: J. A. Mangan
Prologue: J. A. Mangan
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Place of Publication: London & Portland, OR
Publisher: Frank Cass
Year of Publication: 1999
Format: 146x215mm
Pages: xiii+215
Illustrations: 15 black and white pictures
Front Cover Photo: Young Germany by Walter Hoeck (Railway station waiting room, Brunswick)
Binding: Paperback in duotone front cover
Weight: 390gr.
Entry No: 2009025
Date of Entry: 10th April 2009

BOOK DESCRIPTION

One of the central images of masculinity in the Western cultural tradition is the murderous hero, the supreme specialist in violence. A string of warrior-heroes –Achilles, Siegried, Lancelot, Rambo–populate European and American film and literature. Governments can use this connection between admired masculinity and violent response to threat to mobilize support for war. The most systematic case in modern history was the Nazis' cult of Nordic manhood, reaching its peak in the propaganda image of the SS-man.

The cult of the Superman was captured in the art of Arno Breker whose sculptures depicted the Fascist male nude as epitomizing a nationalism resonant with strength, power, control and confidence. Leni Riefenstahl projected the image of the Aryan Superman in her propagandist films of the Nuremberg Rally and the Olympic Games of 1936. This book is a study of masculinity as a metaphor and especially of the muscular male body as a moral symbol. It explores the Nazis' preoccupation with the male body as an icon of political power, and the ideology and theories which propelled it.

Minor references to Life-Reform movement of the 1920s (Lebensreform) and its main preachers.