GRSJ224/Masculinity In Modern Cinema

What is Masculinity?

Before analyzing masculinity in modern cinema, it is critical to have a proper grasp of what masculinity actually encapsulates. By definition, masculinity is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles that are associated with both boys and men . As a whole, this topic is a product of social construction as these "norms" of masculinity have been molded by what society expects of a man, one medium that has pushed these "norms" over the years has been cinema. However, these expectations and standards of masculinity often vary with different cultures and historical periods .

History of Masculinity in Cinema

Jon Hamm (Don Draper) of Mad Men. A masculine protagonist whose character was set in the 1960s.

1950s

To understand where and how modern cinema is in terms of masculinity, it is important to take a step back and follow the path that has led up to today. In the 1950s, filmmakers began to approach topics that were in the past considered outlawed, among these topics was the focus on masculinity, and the suggested roles of each gender . This era of filmmaking was when the idea of the stereotypical tough male, who goes to work while the wife stays at home, was first put on screens across the world.

1970s

In the 1970s, the rise of the feminist movement first began, along with this, the film industry also shifted to follow the changes that were taking place in society. For masculinity, this meant that it began to see a reduced role, it became more focused on specific categories of society, rather than in the broader sense that it was more typically shown as. This sparked the idea, "politics of representation", where it became an issue of ensuring equal share on the screen for both masculinity and feminism . While this did lead to an increase of historical accuracy, the film industry still clearly favoured centring its projects around a strong male protagonist .

1990s

This was then followed up by the 1990s, where films trended back towards the 50s, as there was a spike in the number of films centred around masculinity. This also showed the industry's ability to flood into one topic area, in this case, masculinity, yet still, be able to take differing and varying approaches to create fresh new content for consumers of cinema .

Masculinity in Modern Cinema

In our ever-changing and diverse society, it seems that for some reason, filmmakers are still clinging to the age-old ideas of what masculinity is, and its role within cinema from the 1950s. There is often a strong and powerful male character, who is seemingly unblemished, and carries no character faults, this can be considered the "traditional" male. This is also often followed up with violence, in whatever way it is applicable to the story, the male character takes on violence as a reenforcing aspect of masculinity and what is expected of men .

The film industry tends to also rely heavily on these masculine-focused films during specific times such as post-war, or after 9/11, when there was a spike in hyper-masculine films . This is a strategic move for the industry, and they know viewers will flock to these films for comfort during stressful times; this is attributed to the fact that these films have become predictable, largely in part because the underlying masculine aspects that have never changed, and in times of stress, people crave predictability . While this may appear to be a solid strategy for the industry, questions have been raised whether these masculine ideas are a good influence, on the youth who are consuming this media, and especially when they are at such an easily influenced age . In short, it's not good, in an ideal world, films would take a much more realistic, vulnerable approach to masculinity, to show young boys around the world that perfection is not what should be expected of them, unlike the perfect characters they idolize . In the end however, the film industry is out to make profit whatever way they deem fit, and it is very tough to expect them to shift to this idea, considering how successful and effective the "typical" masculine approach has been over the last 70 years.

Social Impacts

As mentioned above, this hyper-masculine approach to cinema has been very lucrative for the industry, however, the negative effects that it can cause on the younger audience has clearly been overlooked for many years. From a very young age, boys are exposed to leading masculine roles, who they simply follow based on what they can see, without fully comprehending the context of the situation. An example of this is brought up, where a 3-year-old boy has dressed up as a Star Wars character, he quickly idolizes the men he sees in the movie and soon surrounds himself with everything Star Wars ; while at a very young age it is harmless, as he ages, he starts to understand that Star Wars is a society of men, that are surrounded by violence and the one that causes the most damage "wins'", and gets the girl in the end . Modern cinema is littered with examples like this, as well as some that are much more blatant, and while this all may seem rather surface level, in reality, these negative effects will lead to lifetimes of hardship while trying to live up to this false sense of masculinity .