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Masculinity In Movies -Kenneth Mackinnon In the article ‘Masculinity In Movies’ the author Kenneth Mackinnon elucidates about masculinity, feminism and the technological advances that occur in masculinity in movies. He also talks about hard bodies and soft bodies and masculinity in tradition and culture. Apart from this the article also tells about the variety of movie genres, movies, film stars and mainly the tension between hyper-masculinity and feminism.
He talks about distinct variety of genres like the action genres, slasher movies, war films, western, Rambo movies, Bond movies and many others. He tells that the role-played by the superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone in the action movies was more fascinating than that of an everyday guy dealing with everyday botherations in an phenomenal way. Further he brings out about slasher movies also known as sub-genre of haunted movies and argues, “ In slasher movies, the woman’s entire body is the male psychopathic killer into the ‘bleeding wound’ that signifies castration, slashers concern male anxieties above all”. Another genre is the war films where the main focal point is on violence, action, and forcefully curbs its ability for homosexuality while western movies are mostly based
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Students of feminisms and masculinities can benefit from this article and general people can also enjoy reading it. I could relate this article to the concept of movies today, how we as an audience perceive it, also various aspects the actor’s role (acting), the use of sound, lighting, camera movement, all plays a major role in explaining what exactly the movie is about. And the author in his article speaks about various types of movies and the role of male heroes and the changes that occur later on. Overall the article is useful and interesting as the increasing focus is on masculinity,
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.
The Trouble with Men: Masculinities in European and Hollywood Cinema - Phil Powrie, Ann Davies and Bruce Babington.
Masculinity in film: The Incredibles. The movie that I chose to research was The Incredibles. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie because I thought it gave a really wholesome view of family. I was very pleased with how much Mr Incredible grew as a person throughout the story.
In the classical Western and Noir films, narrative is driven by the action of a male protagonist towards a clearly defined, relatable goal. Any lack of motivation or action on the part of the protagonist problematizes the classical association between masculinity and action. Due to inherent genre expectations, this crisis of action is equivalent to a crisis of masculinity. Because these genres are structured around male action, the crises of action and masculinity impose a crisis of genre. In the absence of traditional narrative elements and character tropes, these films can only identify as members of their genres through saturation with otherwise empty genre symbols. The equivalency between the crises of genre and masculinity frames this symbol saturation as a sort of compensatory masculine posturing.
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
Smith, Jeff, and Chloe Beighley. "Normalizing Male Dominance: Gender Representation in 2012 Films." Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy. N.p., 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
Whatever we see in movies, television, video games, or any other source of entertainment, there will always be a male figure who symbolizes masculinity to the fullest extent. All that masculinity represents empowerment is what seems to appeal to men nowadays. In Michael Kimmel’s Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, the novel presents the irresistible desires that men seek in order to receive the approval of other men. An approval where men gain access to the concept of Guyland, where young men become masculine in order to fit in socially and to feel empowered. However, achieving absolute masculinity leans toward the use of violence that is presented in the media, presenting a message where violence is used for the purpose of getting what one desires.
Gender and the portrayal of gender roles in a film is an intriguing topic. It is interesting to uncover the way women have been idealized in our films, which mirrors the sentiments of the society of that period in time. Consequently, the thesis of this essay is a feminist approach that seeks to compare and contrast the gender roles of two films. The selected films are A few Good Men and Some Like it Hot.
Film scholar and gender theorist Linda Williams begins her article “Film Bodies: Genre, Gender and Excess,” with an anecdote about a dispute between herself and her son, regarding what is considered “gross,” (727) in films. It is this anecdote that invites her readers to understand the motivations and implications of films that fall under the category of “body” genre, namely, horror films, melodramas, (henceforth referred to as “weepies”) and pornography. Williams explains that, in regards to excess, the constant attempts at “determining where to draw the line,” (727) has inspired her and other theorists alike to question the inspirations, motivations, and implications of these “body genre” films. After her own research and consideration, Williams explains that she believes there is “value in thinking about the form, function, and system of seemingly gratuitous excesses in these three genres,” (728) and she will attempt to prove that these films are excessive on purpose, in order to inspire a collective physical effect on the audience that cannot be experienced when watching other genres.
This essay shall also look at how genre films change over time, due to changes in society, as characters are represented differently, for example, females are now allowed to do the same jobs as men, but this would not have been allowed in the 1950's, and also as sub genres within the film industry are created over time, as films can now be categorised into more that one genre, for example, Alien, can be placed both in the Horror and the Science Fiction genres. If looking at the western genre in terms of iconography, then it would have to be agreed that genre is predictable and formulaic to a certain extent, as the western genre has to be predictable and formulaic because the films depict a certain part of the west in American history, so it therefore needs to show a realistic image of the west within all western films, as it is a true time in American history. In both 'The Searchers' and 'Unforgiven', there was examples of similar iconography, such as guns, and a similar narrative, as they both followed the revenge narrative, this therefore ... ...
For the purpose of this study, I will critically examine the representation of homosexuality in Hollywood cinema. I will specifically analyse films from the early 90’s to mid 2000’s from ‘Philadelphia’ to ‘Brokeback Mountain’. This dissertation will argue that over the space of 12 years homosexuality has become an acceptable part of cinema. I will look at early Hollywood’s representation of homosexuality depicting how aesthetically so much has changed. The current paper will predominantly focus on the two films ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’, by critically analysing the aesthetic differences between each film as well as their overall importance to gay culture.
In the documentary, the media repetitively shows that a real man should always be tough and powerful. It influences the minds of the young males by showing their favourite characters and heros to be masculine and powerful. It promotes violence by showing fighting scenes in movies and how the hero defeats the villain by using his power. One of the most popular superhero characters in the world is batman, his physical transformation over the years proves how the media portrays masculinity as the main attribute. There is a huge difference in the physicality of batman played by Adam West in the 1960s and the one played by Christian Bale in the recent Batman trilogy.
Film denotes itself to having numerous interpretations and purpose; it can either provide an escape from reality or depict certain issues in the most basic and rational way to evoke certain moods from the audience. In order to refer to a certain topic and push for convinced perceptions on different types of subject matter, filmmakers and critics alike decided to refer to certain film genres. Genre not only dictates a film’s stylistic and cinematic purpose, but also helps maximize audience and give potential viewers some implications on what the film offers. Genres like comedy and musical had always remained extremely popular to the public, often times receiving great honors and film accolades. However, a certain genre started to rise as the
Feminism is a movement that supports women equality within society. In relation to film, feminism is what pushes the equal representation of females in mainstream films. Laura Mulvey is a feminist theorist that is famous for touching on this particular issue of how men and women are represented in movies. Through her studies, she discovered that many films were portraying men and women very differently from reality. She came up with a theory that best described why there is such as huge misrepresentation of the social status quos of male and female characters. She believed that mainstream film is used to maintain the status quo and prevent the realization of gender equality. This is why films are continuously following the old tradition that males are dominant and females are submissive. This is the ideology that is always present when we watch a movie. This is evident in the films from the past but also currently. It is as if the film industry is still catering to the male viewers of each generation in the same way. Laura Mulvey points out that women are constantly being seen as sexual objects, whether it is the outfits they wear or do not wear or the way they behave, or secondary characters with no symbolic cause. She states that, “in traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote it-be-looked-at-ness.”(Mulvey pg. 715). Thus, women are nevertheless displayed as nothing more than passive objects for the viewing pleasure of the audience. Mulvey also points out through her research that in every mainstream movie, there is ...