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Gender and masculinity
Media roles in stereotyping
Social construct of hegemonic masculinity
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In his article “Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture,” Nick Trujillo, associate professor of communication studies in California state university, examines various print and television representations of Nolan Ryan to show how male athletes are replicated in American culture and society. Trujillo also presents five features of hegemonic masculinity namely: physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship and heterosexuality; thus exploring how mediated sport have reinforced these features.
Hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the “culturally idealized dorm of masculine character” (Trujillo, 290) where the society defines what it means to be a man, subordinates women and marginalizes gay men. This article focuses on Nolan Ryan and how the media has presented him to the public.
Trujillo’s article makes valid points about mediated sports and masculinity. He analyzes Nolan Ryan based on the five features of hegemonic masculinity. He doesn’t make assumptions about Nolan Ryan as he examines over 250 articles from popular newspapers and magazines, over 100 news reports and 30 advertisements
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He was described as a “power pitcher” and this in turn confirmed the power of the male body. I am of two minds about Trujillo’s claim that “force and competence” have defined men as power holders and women as subordinates. On the one hand, I agree that men have been defined as power holders and this is because nature has provided men an advantage (physical and other areas) over women.On the other hand, I’m not sure exactly if recent events in the world can justify this claim as male dominance has been questioned successfully by feminists. Also, with the existence of education and jobs for women, it is safe to say that male domination has lost its grip on the
There can be no question that sport and athletes seem to be considered less than worthy subjects for writers of serious fiction, an odd fact considering how deeply ingrained in North American culture sport is, and how obviously and passionately North Americans care about it as participants and spectators. In this society of diverse peoples of greatly varying interests, tastes, and beliefs, no experience is as universal as playing or watching sports, and so it is simply perplexing how little adult fiction is written on the subject, not to mention how lightly regarded that little which is written seems to be. It should all be quite to the contrary; that our fascination and familiarity with sport makes it a most advantageous subject for the skilled writer of fiction is amply demonstrated by Mark Harris.
In the 90s sitcom Coach, Hayden Fox is the epitome of manhood. This 40-something is a head football coach at a university, a divorcee whose role as a father has only just begun and he lives alone in a cabin. This man is as much of a guy as you can get. His life is football and he has a strict set of rules in which to live by. He has a very set view and definition of masculinity. Hayden Fox is Generation X’s Archie Bunker, only not quite as much of a bigot, just a traditional manly man set in his ways. Much like All in the Family, Coach didn’t do very well at first and attracted negative reviews of critics. In a Los Angeles Times review of the first two episodes, Howard Rosenberg writes about “the wit-less story burdened by hackneyed, brain-versus-brawn characters”. This is quite harsh after only two episodes but it seems the brain-versus-brawn mentality rings true especially between Hayden and his daughter and wife. Despite the similarities between All in the Family and Coach, the main point of Coach is not that of relevance TV in the 1970s but is more of a way to attract male viewers in a TV genre watched mostly by women. Coach Hayden Fox is an ideal man and a character that men can relate to or aspire to be just like women with all of the female TV role models of the past. Coach’s main character Hayden Fox simultaneously plays two main roles: a model of masculinity for male viewers and an old fashioned man to both love and hate similar to Archie Bunker.
At the time, I was not impressed with the “American” sport, but now that I have read Stephen Jay Gould’s essay, “The Creation Myths of Cooperstown,” I will have something to say when the subject arises. Don’t get me wrong: I didn’t like America’s baseball then and I don’t like it now. I do, however, enjoy thinking critically and so I, too, am drawn to that great wad of spit we call baseball because the heterosexual ego and rabid patriotism hiding behind its dirty, sweaty disposition have appeared on my radar screen. Thanks to Gould, I now have the ability to let go of my hostility toward an innocent sport and see the hostility for what it really is: anger towards the males who use baseball as an excuse to unleash their violent hormonal urges.
Fridman’s usage of logos discloses proof that American society diminishes the status of knowledgeable individuals. He integrates a sociological based premise to identify American society’s culture of honoring sports since “average baseball players are much more respected and better paid
Society has always had the idea that males should participate in masculine activities and females in feminine activities. These activities define the lifestyle that person would have. It was also believed that if a male was not involved in masculine activities, that male was not a man. Sports is a field that has been dominated by males in the past years, and more recently has had a lot of females take part in it. But does playing a sport define one’s masculinity? Michael Messner, the author of Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities, discusses the effect sports has on upcoming young men of different races. The effect of being introduced to a sport at a young age allowed males of different races to gain a sense of masculinity,
In 1996, the Wachowskis wrote and directed the noir crime thriller, Bound. In this film, the directors turned some of the archetypes of film noir on its head. Most notably, the role of women in film. Film theorist, Laura Mulvey, claims that the main role of women in film is to function as a source of pleasure, to be objectified, to be passive and at the command of male fantasy. This relationship of looking and being looked at causes each gender to have a particular presence within film; the male is active and the female is passive (Mulvey, 1975). However, in Bound, the character Violet, who is obviously objectified by the gaze of the male characters, does not hold a passive role within the film itself. Violet is a force that acts upon the narrative, manipulating events and scenes to her favor, along with actively controlling male gaze and using it to her advantage. Film theorist, Tania Modleski argues that there are passive and active roles within films that have connotations with “femininity” and “masculinity”, but these roles do not have to apply to the gender or outward appearance of characters that they align with. Modleski focuses more on the actions, not the outward appearances, of the film
Why do so many guys seem stuck between adolescence and adulthood? Guys might not completely buy into the negative parts of their atmosphere, but because it’s the group norm, they act accordingly. So if the reverse can be done, I think that can be a redeeming aspect of Guyland. In describing the young male adult culture, the author talks about there being some redeeming qualities. They’ve seen mistakes their parents have made, and they’re trying to account for that. There certainly is a negative aspect of guys not growing up in college or post-college. But there is the positive aspect: we are taking more time to think about what we want to do, and make sure that what we are doing is something we want, something we can do well. In their late
Thompson, Teri, and et al. American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
In the early 20th century, baseball became the first professional sport to earn nationwide attention in America. Because it was our first national professional team sport, because of its immense popularity, and because of its reputation as being synonymous with America, baseball has been written about more than any other sport, in both fiction and non-fiction alike. As baseball grew popular so did some of the sportswriters who wrote about the game in the daily newspaper. Collectively, the sportswriters of the early 20th century launched a written history of baseball that transformed the game into a “national symbol” of American culture, a “guardian” of America’s traditional values, and as a “gateway” to an idealized past. (Skolnik 3) No American sport has a history as long—or as romanticized—as that of the game referred to as our “national pastime.”
Narratives of the hero action has sustained the interests of audiences across the ‘changing space and time’ of popular culture and has become a ‘stalwart genre’ (Shimpach, 2010:30). This study will explore the construction of hegemonic masculinity by comparing the representation of heroic masculinity between John McClane (Die Hard, 1988) and John Wayne (Rio Bravo, 1959). It will examine: the framing of the physical body, the development of intelligence, the role of emotion and the depiction of heroes in relation to those around them. Die Hard and Rio Bravo depict heroic law enforcers, an American image of masculinity. Examining Rio Bravo and Die Hard diachronically will conceptualise the historical negotiation of hegemonic masculinity in response to gender issues such as first and second wave feminism. The overpowering assertion of masculinity in cop action films suggests that there are lingering cultural anxieties about the establishment roles of gender. To sustain hegemony requires the ‘poling of men’ and the ‘discrediting of women’ (Connel and Messerschmidt, 2005:837), hegemonic masculinity is a social construction and is a performance by an individual (Galdas, 2009).Social expectations collapse gender into individual sex differences, contrasting identities, fixed social role and physical appearance. This construction is aided by the representation of heroic masculinity in popular culture.
his Essay will analyse, introduce, and discuss the terms Hegemonic Masculinity and Emphasized femininity, if it still applies in modern times and the use of these concepts to comprehend the role of the man and female in Eastern Asia, in relation to post-war Japan. In order to present a clear and linear argument I will divide this essay into three parts: In the first part I will define the term hegemonic masculinity, the common traits and the influence that it has in society; the essay will continue then in explaining and outlining the term emphasized femininity. The second part will analyse the impact of the notions of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity in relation to post war Japan has. The last part will briefly identify some
No other common activity resonated so regularly and intensely in American life as [baseball] . . . Played virtually every day over a six-month span and tracked religiously in the mass media, baseball offered its partisans a steady diet of entertainment, drama, and controversy. Americans routinely interspersed their language with baseball metaphors. (36)
Crafting the national pastime's image: The history of major league baseball public relations William B Anderson. Journalism and Communication Monographs. Columbia: Spring 2003. Vol. 5, Iss. 1; pg. 5
Historical and sociological research has shown, through much evidence collection and analysis of primary documents that the American sporting industry can give an accurate reflection, to a certain extent, of racial struggles and discrimination into the larger context of American society. To understand this stance, a deep look into aspects of sport beyond simply playing the game must be a primary focus. Since the integration of baseball, followed shortly after by American football, why are the numbers of African American owners, coaches and managers so very low? What accounts for the absence of African American candidates from seeking front office and managerial roles? Is a conscious decision made by established members of each organization or is this matter a deeper reflection on society? Why does a certain image and persona exist amongst many African American athletes? Sports historians often take a look at sports and make a comparison to society. Beginning in the early 1980’s, historians began looking at the integration of baseball and how it preceded the civil rights movement. The common conclusion was that integration in baseball and other sports was indeed a reflection on American society. As African Americans began to play in sports, a short time later, Jim Crow laws and segregation formally came to an end in the south. Does racism and discrimination end with the elimination of Jim Crow and the onset of the civil rights movement and other instances of race awareness and equality? According to many modern sports historians and sociologists, they do not. This paper will focus on the writings of selected historians and sociologists who examine th...
Myers mentioned in his article that this generation of young discouraged, angry men feels abandoned with the today’s norms. Male movie stars and athletes have further influenced the masculine norms. In males perspective, liking a feminine color, doing feminine actions, listening to specified girl music is considered to be less manly. These have greatly affected the likes and dislikes of many men. The entertainment industry has created a big gap between what is masculine or feminine. This has caused a big separation and it's getting worse. Male are taught to be man of the house, strong, and powerful, but sometimes they’re belittled by society that they can’t do certain things and all the power is