Modeling Manhood:

K.B. Chapman spent over three years studying and analyzing the filmography of Adam Sandler in preparation for her Master’s Thesis. In Modeling Manhood: Adam Sandler’s Portrayals of Masculinity and Manhood, she provides a concise look into the thinking behind the films. Her analyzation of Sandler's characters and the females he is attracted to in each film became a study in gender dynamics. Chapman avoids typical feminist rhetoric, looking instead through a lens of intelligent common-sense reasoning about day to day performances of masculinity in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century America. This book is invaluable to students of gender, sociology, psychology, and film, as well as news and entertainment reporters and critics.

K.B. Chapman spent over three years studying and analyzing the filmography of Adam Sandler in preparation for her Master’s Thesis. In Modeling Manhood: Adam Sandler’s Portrayals of Masculinity and Manhood, she provides a concise look into the thinking behind the films. Her analyzation of Sandler's characters and the females he is attracted to in each film became a study in gender dynamics. Chapman avoids typical feminist rhetoric, looking instead through a lens of intelligent common-sense reasoning about day to day performances of masculinity in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century America. This book is invaluable to students of gender, sociology, psychology, and film, as well as to news and entertainment reporters and critics. Modeling Manhood: Adam Sandler's Portrayals of Masculinity and Manhood is a study of Sandler's character formation as he grew up in late 20th century America. The book examines the influences of American popular culture, politics, and current events on that formation, as well as the mentoring role Sandler's father played. Sandler himself acknowledges his father as, “My father, my mentor, my teacher, my coach, my idol, my hero, my family’s leader, my mom’s best friend, and by far, the coolest guy I have ever known.” Chapman argues that these are the character qualities Adam learned from his father; the traits he associates with ideal fatherhood. They are what drive his efforts to influence ideas of masculinity, manhood, and fatherhood. The book also explores the recurring themes and characterizations used to reinforce Sandler's message: the bully, the sensitive guy, the man-child, LGBT acceptance, the jock, college education, and engaged fatherhood to communicate the values his father imparted to him. Sandler's films are often criticized for being moronic, but if one looks past the extended adolescent buffoonery shown at the beginning of most of his films, to the maturation process, and ultimately to manhood, it becomes evident that he is attempting to teach his audience that the most successful form of manhood is one that includes a college education, a responsible form of employment, and a committed relationship. His goal is to contribute to the ongoing conversation about what it means to be a man, and his portrayals of masculinity are in effect, efforts to mentor males of all ages into mature manhood. Chapman's in-depth reviews of Grown Ups, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Spanglish, and The Waterboy give readers insight into what film scholar Timothy Shary calls the "challenge [to] perceived norms about sexuality and sexual preference, social identities and expectations, power and strength, and the very essence of what 'being a man' means."

Kathleen Boone Chapman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1950 and spent the first twelve years of her life in the American south. She wore white gloves and a hat to social functions, shopping, and church and she was co-parented by her father, her socialite mother and their black housekeeper. All of them told her she could become whatever she set her mind to. When she was thirteen her parents divorced and she experienced a monumental paradigm shift by moving to the small town of Redding, California with her mother and younger brother. Redding is the northernmost city of California’s central valley, where hunters, fishermen, guns, and four-wheel-drive trucks abound. Surrounded by mountains, lakes, and rivers, it was a great community to grow up in and a completely different atmosphere than the genteel southern life she led previously. Kathleen spent twenty-five years working in the art and engineering industry, including five years as a buyer in the largest art store in Northern California and twelve years as a sales representative for international importers of art and engineering goods, winning numerous sales awards. Her education includes both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in History from California State University Stanislaus. During her undergraduate years she served as the editor of the Lassen College Cougar student newspaper, which gave her a love and appreciation for journalism. While raising her children, Kathleen served as a Girl Scout leader for four years, taking girls to Yosemite, Shasta Caverns, and on local camp-outs in the Sacramento area. Later, she worked closely with the homeless population in Redding, where she served on the Salvation Army Advisory Board for four years – two years as vice-president and one year as president – before moving to Stockton where she and her husband pastored an inner-city church until his retirement. Kathleen has three adult children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandsons, along with a husband and a border collie. She currently lives in Stockton, California on a canal that exits into the deep-water ship channel and enjoys watching ocean going vessels from around the world as they leave and enter the port. She and her husband contribute to local, national, and international charities with the goal of meeting nutritional, educational, and spiritual needs of those who are less fortunate.