When the first Fast & Furious film was released in June 2001, few predicted that it would be a box office hit, let alone the launchpad for a multi-billion-dollar franchise. A mid-budget crime movie set around L.A.'s underground car-racing scene, featuring a cast of relative unknowns, the film became one of the surprise hits of that summer, earning more than 5 times its budget in worldwide ticket sales. 2 decades and 9 films later, Fast & Furious today ranks among the 10 highest-grossing movie franchises of all time, with a box office total of $6.6 billion and has also given rise to an animated TV show and theme park ride. Full-Throttle Franchise is the first book to offer an in-depth analysis of the Fast & Furious, bringing together a range of scholars to explore not only the style and themes of the franchise, but also its broader cultural impact and legacy. The collected essays establish the franchise's importance in cinematic and ideological terms, linking their discussions to wider issues of genre, representation, adaptation, and industry. Topics range from stardom and performance, focusing on key actors Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, to the way in which Fast & Furious intersects with dominant ideas of racial, gender, and sexual identity. Aimed at both scholars and fans, Full-Throttle Franchise seeks to uncover just what has made Fast & Furious so enduringly popular, mapping its outrageous set pieces, ever-expanding universe, and growing cast of global megastars in terms of wider cultural and industrial forces.

Examines the work of women in East Asian Cinema in front of and behind the screen Highlights understudied areas on women's contributions to film East Asian film in particular Highlights importance of re-historicising women's creative labour in film, not just as actors on screen Recentres women's film history into film history more broadly Creates opportunities for dialogue amongst established and emerging scholars working in different areas of East Asian film studies Women in East Asian Cinema brings together new and emerging work to highlight and explore the understudied contributions of women to the films and creative industries of East Asia. It is a book which foregrounds the importance of re-historicising women's creative labour in film, not just as actors on screen, but as voices who have steered the production, circulation and consumption of these films across global contexts. Over three sections, the book provides perspectives on gender representation in East and South-East Asian cinema; new explorations of women's labour contributions as directors, screenwriters, and editors; and considerations of the contemporary circulation processes through which such work reaches global audiences. By recentring women's film histories within the broader history of cinema and interrogating the geo-political boundaries of what might constitute 'East Asia' in the process, this volume makes a robust intervention into studies of East Asian cinema and women in film.