Research Paper
‘Lad flicks’ or ‘lad movies’ is a type of film genre that emerged in the late 1990s. They are defined as a “‘hybrid of “buddy movies”, romantic comedies and “chick flicks”, which centre on the trials and tribulations of a young man as he grows up to become a ‘real man’. ‘Lad flicks’ respond in part to the much-debated ‘crisis in masculinity’” (Benjamin A. Brabon 116). This genre of film explored what it meant to be a ‘real man’ in the twentieth century and in order to do so, they would have to grow up and leave their juvenile ways behind to enter the heterosexual world. Gender relations in ‘lad flicks’ portray masculinity as a troubled, anxious cultural category hiding behind a humorous façade and also rely greatly on a knowing gaze and irony. The two ‘lad flicks’ that will be analyzed are The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow 2005) and Role Models (David Wain 2008).
The figure of the ‘new lad’ has been a feature of popular culture in the United Kingdom, United States, and elsewhere since the early 1990s. In the book, The Trouble with Men: Masculinities in European and Hollywood Cinema, the author relates to Nick Hornby’s, a screenwriter and English novelist, thoughts on lads. He states that there are two versions of the modern male that have anxieties between the two main constructions of contemporary masculinity: New man and New Lad (Phil Powrie 2004, pp.84). By the start of the twentieth century, the word ‘masculinity’ was always associated with the word ‘crisis’; this is now portrayed in ‘lad flicks’. Masculinity is the central object of contemporary ‘lad flicks’; they combine different genre elements to focus specifically on difficulties that face contemporary masculinity. The male characters in these films...
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...cks’ discussed above do portray masculinity as a troubled, anxious cultural category as they hide behind a humorous façade through their unglamorous jobs, male bonding, homophobic comments and insults, and the pressure to change and become a ‘real man’ in order to live up to their successful female interests.
Bibliography
‘Chuck Flick’: A Genealogy of the Postfeminist Male Singleton – Benjamin A. Brabon
‘Dude, You’re a Fag’: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse - C. J. Pascoe 2005
Lad flicks: Discursive reconstructions of masculinity in popular film - Hansen-Miller and Gill
Feminism at the movies – Hilary Radner and Rebecca Stringer
The Trouble with Men: Masculinities in European and Hollywood Cinema - Phil Powrie, Ann Davies and Bruce Babington.
Cultures of Masculinity – Tim Edwards
Hollywood Genres and Postwar America – Mike Chopra-gant
Examining different scenarios, such as toy proportions, outlook from inmates in jail, and the ideas portrayed of what the ideal man consist from the viewpoint of man, the movie depicts these things to show how pop culture, social constructs, and masculine identities influence their opinions. Consequently, men believe they can gain respect and admiration from others from their use of violence and threats. Katz asked inmates about their ideology of masculinity; they said that masculinity is about having power and respect. Furthermore, they showed concerned about what the other inmates thought of them and their masculinity. Boys and men have to carefully shape their persona to fit the ideal standard of masculinity, no matter the cost. Katz and Earp break down the social constructs of masculinity by looking at the ideas of the “ideal man,” violence leading to masculinity, and degradation of masculinity by attacking individuals with the notion that they are acting
In contemporary film making, “Hollywood-ization” generally refers to the re-creation of a classic work in a form more vulgar and sexually explicit than the original in an effort to boost movie attendance. After all, sex and violence sell. However, from the mid-1930’s to the 1950’s, “Hollywood-ization” referred to the opposite case where controversial books had to be purified to abide by the Production Code of 1934.[1] This occurred to many of James Cain’s novels as they moved from text to the genre of “film noir.” As has been said about Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, “The property, bought several years ago, was kept in the studio’s archives until now because of [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s] “inability to clean it up.””[2] The sanitation of Cain’s novels greatly took from the strong themes of female emotional and financial independence that were rarely addressed at that time as they were adapted for the screen.
In Kimmel’s essay “’Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” he argues that the influence of society on masculinity is equal to or greater than biological influences on masculinity. In the essay, Kimmel uses various surveys and interviews to validate his argument. He points to peers, coaches, and family members as the people most likely to influence the development of a man’s masculinity. When a man has his manliness questioned, he immediately makes the decision never to say or do whatever caused him to be called a wimp, or unmanly. Kimmel’s argument is somewhat effective because the readers get firsthand accounts from the interviewees but the author does not provide any statistics to support his argument.
‘Raw’ is a novel written by author ‘Scott Monk’ where he addresses the ideas and perceptions of masculinity and the need to be responsible for one’s own actions. He achieves this through the use of narrative elements such as symbolism, characters, plot, structure and settings. Monk further explores the issues of masculinity and responsibility by introducing the themes of teenage rebellion, peer pressure, self-awareness, freedom of choice and the use of power and authority.
Patricia Young’s poem Boys is packed with literary devices used to convey the way heteronormacy is advocated in our society. She uses tropes and schemes such as allusion, metaphor
The chapter in Hollywood Blockbusters discusses how the movie in terms of how the language of the film is so popular, time and how masculinity is portrayed. In the movie the male characters masculinity is being tested and shown differently than typical masculine roles. The typical masculine roles such as
Kimmel details the transition from adolescence to adulthood and the issues that young males encounter while trying to put forth their manliness and prove themselves to their peers. One of the things Kimmel pointed out which was an eye opener for me in terms of how much times has changed is that in the past, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-six, young men used this stage in life to prep for a life of work, committed relationships, and other responsibilities. Today, young men in Guyland spend their drinking, playing video games, having immature relationships with woman and participating in risky behavior. Kimmel goes on to explain that young men are “frighteningly dependent on peer culture” and “desperate to prove their masculinity in the eyes of other boys.” (Kimmel 2008, pg.30). They live in constant fear of not measuring up to the ideals of masculinity which Kimmel says are power, wealth, status, physicality and
Radner, Hilary. Neo-feminist Cinema: Girly Films, Chick Flicks and Consumer Culture. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print.
According to Dictionary (n.d), masculinity is traditionally attributed to the root of social (one`s gender) rather than biological (one`s sex). Therefore these leave the conventions of masculinity to be exploited or rather, to be re-invented by the both the male and female behaviour. The merits of such enriched circumstances make one consider what it means to be masculine and what constitutes to how they see themselves in society.
In films, female characters ‘reflect and perpetuate the status and options of women in today’s society’ and play
The male gaze is a concept that refers to how visual culture is designed to please a male viewer by sexually objectifying women. It was first coined by Laura Mulvey, a British feminist film critic, in her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975). She argues that Hollywood films use women as “erotic objects” [1] in order to provide pleasurable experience for heterosexual male audiences.
Mainstream movies are about men’s lives, and the few movies about women’s lives, at their core, still also revolve around men (Newsom, 2011). These female leads often have male love interests, looking to get married or get pregnant. Strong independent female leads are still exist for the male view, as they are hypersexualized, or the “fighting fuck toy,” (Newsom, 2011). This depiction has created a culture where women are insecure and waiting for a knight on a horse to come rescue and provide for her as well as the acceptance of women
Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.
Masculinity was not always the competitive situation as we know it today. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there are two types of men co-existed. They are Heroic Artisans describes as the working class included farmers and craftsmen, and Genteel Patriarchs described as refined included land owners. The heroic Artisans and Genteel Patriarchs could live in society together because their gender roles complimented each other. Kimmel believes that these gender roles became overpowered by Capitalists, what he calls “Marketplace Manhood”. This theory is the belief that capitalism drives gender identity with wealth, power, status and the ability to conquer all that he comes across “proves” a man’s worth and therefore his masculinity.
In C.J. Pascoe’s reading “Dude you’re a fag” she explores the concept of Masculinity and Sexuality as it is seen in High School, giving a gripping insight into modern youth as she explores the diversity of friendships between both sexes (male and female) and also racially, which is present within these institutions. The article predominately focuses on the male population as it shows how masculinity is a vital characteristic needed in order to fit into society and hence not be attacked with labels such as “fag” if you do not adhere to these masculine traits.