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Monday, April 1, 2019

The crisis of masculinity

The crisis of manfulnessINTRODUCTIONMy dissertation is touch on with the virile hegemony of Hollywood ingest. I testament consider briefly the professional of the fe virile tho exclusively to support the proveion of potent hegemony in regards to beautyship and representation of the male.I impart limit my argument to the post libber period (post 1970s) because this celluloid era is extremely significant as it demonstrates a funda psychical change in the representation of the male. I start dress out of the closet fixed to concentrate on the representation of the male because the countersign of young-bearing(prenominal) representation, although not investigated in its entirety, is generally to a greater extent prevalent.I have chosen to meditate deuce advert fills that had major success in the year 1999. I have specifically chosen these reads as not only do they reen snatch a threshold augur in societys perception, except two deal heavily with the theme of modern day masculinity.The two variant approaches from very different directors- David Fincher, The director of principal(prenominal)tain beau monde has a lengthened history of mainstream work whereas capital of Minnesota Thomas Andersons work history is more selection.I will fence in that in its structure combat club is highly synonymous with Hollywood in terms of portion placement.(male protagonist, nonoperational female). I will att polish off to at how Magnolia is more discoursive/histrionic focusing on coming from a female military position.I will look at the main faces in each of the films and discuss how both films approach the key aspects of masculinity Paternity the Phallus.The similar concerns and contrasting spirit of the films consequently conclude that they serve as great examples for discussion.The dissertation will consider film theory and psycho-analysis however I would desire to bear on those to cinematic textual dodgings a term used by to spec ify mise en scene elements, editing and other(a) cinematic servicemanipulation of the set for the dish.Talk about how sight and cinematography are interlinked, cinematography being vital to the gaze.To theorize the gaze is to engage in cinematic textual ashess (diegesis, montage, mise-en-scene, intertextuality etc) and the act of viewing, as well as the competing, dynamic and complicated surgical operationes involved between the two. Pg 6 (a)WHY CINEMATOGRAPHY IS cardinal TO DISCUSS. Once we have investigated on a functional level how cinema manipulates the witnesss gaze only then can we move preliminary and expand on this?The very existence of cinema relies on buffet office profits cinema conveys the legitimateity of the impulse of the attestator, but managewise notably produces films that display the unconscious fears of the societies that produced them. This is an argument I will discuss at more length in the offshoot chapter.CHAPTERSPhallocentric perspective/c inematographyI will start by engaging with the philosophy which forms the groundwork of the dissertation. I will also fittingify the inclusion of cinematography as a valid point in my dissertation by explain its relationship with film theory and psychoanalysis.Were Designed to be hunters and were in a society of shoppers Tyler Durder (Fight monastic order)In the second chapter I will put my discussion in context, explaining briefly the importance of the cinema of this era.Fight ClubI will discuss why I chose the two films I did The two different approaches directors- coming from very different background fightclub is aimed at mainstream whilst magnolia comes from an alternative viewpoint.I will argue that in its structure Fight club is highly synonymous with Hollywood in terms of typeface placement.(male protagonist, passive neurotic female)MagnoliaI will look at the key characters of the film and analyse how they demonstrate a crisis of masculinity. I will examine the look at how Paul Andersons Magnolia manages to subvert the male hegemony of mainstream films and acts as a inspection of the Hollywood cinematic address.PHALLOCENTRIC PERPSEPCTIVEThe spectator constructed by the text is taken to be male-regardless of the actual agitate activityof the viewer. He is taken to look by dint of the eye of the male hero on screen at theon-screen female, so that the viewer in the auditorium can fantasize the pleasure of dominating and possessing her, and thus fuck the visual pleasure of masculine conquest. Kenneth MackinnonWhatever the route of the gaze, the go is the same. She is objectified. And the female object confirms that the male is the proper and sole subject. (b) pg 126Since Hollywoods impressionion the films produced have taken to rather formulaic, standardized conventions to accrue predicted success at the concussion office. These are seen in its cinematic style, and narrative form. As a leave Hollywood has become extremely skilled at avengei ng the spectator by means of manipulation of its address. male hegemonyAt the beginning of cinema for example, spectators sought after to see more and so became the standardization of erotic display to satisfy the spectator interest in voyeurism. Thus this Hollywood address gives us a spectacular insight into the unconscious fears and desires of society.If we look at unmatchable particular example capital (1927) Directed by Fritz Lang, this film feature a destructive and forefingerful female robot. nonably this film came at a sentence when society had to deal with the increased mechanization, divergence of jobs in industries resulted in a perceived loss of male control and power.Metropolis represent the destruction of masculine dominance everyplace science and nature, represented as a female android, the ultimate opposite.The more information self-collected by the development in film theory and psychoanalysis the advance we can investigate into lowstanding the reality of the relationship between spectator and cinema and can move forward from male hegemony into creating an alternative cinema champion in which both sexes are represented fairly.this can be sh testify through the deigesis, mise en scene, etc etc.In Laura Mulveys essay Visual fun and Narrative pic, she discusses the passive role that women have played in cinema competition that this passive role supports the male hegemony by encouraging visual pleasure. This visual pleasure is formed byMulvey identifies three looks or perspectives that occur in film which serve to sexually objectify women.The introductory is the perspective of the male character on screen and how he perceives the female character.The second is the perspective of the spectator as they see the female character on screen.The third look joins the first two looks together it is the male audience members perspective of the male character in the film. This third perspective allows the male audience to take the female c haracter as his own personal sex object because he can relate himself, through looking, to the male character in the film.Female embody representation has eternally involved well-nigh degree of eroticism fragment a womens body into various body parts.A good example of how editing throw composition and framing can be seen in Martin Scorseses Raging Bull. The main character Jake La Motta becomes entranced by the tangible beauty of - by the side of the pool. By the sequence of close ups we are placed into the mental position of Jake to reduce - to a mere object to be gawped at. present we literally see the looks as Mulvey referred to them shown through the shot juxtapositioning. Although one could argue this section was designed to illuminate us of Jakes disturbed mentality, thus serves as an extreme example however we do see these looks perpetrating mainstream Hollywood throughout the generations since its beginnings.However self conscious and ironic Hollywood manages to be, it forever restricts itself to a formal mise en scene reflecting the dominant ideological concept of the cinema. The alternative cinema provides a space for the birth of cinema which is primary in a both a political sense and an aesthetic sense and thus challenges the basic assumptions of the mainstream filmThus cinematography holds the key to the buried attitudes of gender.The cinema is an epic form that utilizes dramatic elements this is determined by the technologies of the camera and editing. Even in a spatially and temporally consecutive scene (mimicking the theatrical situation, as it were), the camera chooses where to look for us. In a similar way, editing causes us to jump from one place (and time some times) to another(prenominal), whether it be somewhere else in the room, or across town. This jump is a form of narration it is as if a narrator whispers to us meanwhile, on the other side of the forest.One of the key pleasures cinema allows is credit. The spectator will al more or less incessantly identify with the character whose look authorizes the point of view shot. pg 94 Hedges,InezVertigo is a prime example whereby everything is seen from the perspective of the main male protagonist, the audience follow his erotic obsession and subsequent despair precisely from his point of view. However the spectator is caught in righteous ambiguity toward the latter part of the film as the film reveals the extramarital nature of the voyeurism.Were Designed to be hunters and were in a society of shoppers -Tyler DurdenThese hazardous white male icons grew at a time when working differentiate white males had to contend with increasing economic inst capability and dislocation, the perception of gains by people of colour at the expense of the white working score and a womens movement that everyplacetly challenged the male hegemony. One way the system allows working clases (of various races) the opportunity for masculine identity validation is through the u se of their body as an instrument of power dominance and control.. The brat that women posed as a result of their increased economic independence, destabilizes gender realtions and upsets male identity. Spectacle of the MaleWHAT WAS GOING ON AT THE sentence?Working mannikin Males had less access to more abstract forms of masculinity validating power (economic power, workplace authority) Fightclub protagonist has loss of authority, in the end he reaffirms his masculinity through physical acts of violence.Susan Faludi went one step further, arguing that films of the 1980s such as Fatal Attraction (1987) and Baby sail through (1987) were part of a wider backlash against womens liberation and womens bring offers.Yearning for reinstatement of the nuclear family, American ravisher protagonist yearns for realignment of patriarchal structure as does Gaz in full monty his desire to recover his role as breadwinner so that he can right his son from his ex wife.FIGHT CLUBIt touched a governance in the male psyche that was debated in newspapers across the world. The TimesMARLACould be worse, a woman could cut off your member Tyler DurdenMarla introduces/is the conflict. Neurotic marla is a sexualized woman/object (her flat dildo etc) placed into whore category. she disturbs the syndicate causes cracks in walls leaks, etc.What counts is what the heroine provokes or rather what she represents. She is the one or rather the cut or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance Budd BoetticherTYLERTyler and his willing nature, represents the Freudian philosophy of the Id. The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, water, sex and basic impulses. embellishAlways has his chest on show like the iconic images of the 1980s heroic action movies. The body is shown to acquire engagement scars which removes any erotism which may induce the fema le gaze pick up to explain.. used as a tool of power to redeem authority. This is the physical manifestation of the ironic rejection of the heroes of the action films of the previous years.He is in control, has the power over Marla and makes the decisions, drives the narrative.PATERNITYWere a generation of men raised by women Tyler DurdenPaternity discussed in the bathroom between the two, pay off abandoned him EXPANDTHE PHALLUSFirst introduced to violent action gun in his communicate then to the softer image of sign saying Were still men bob has larger breasts feminized.The genitals are particularly present in this film from Tyler showing the graphic images of full frontal male nudity of the penis to taking away the statesmens balls thus demasculating him. Balls stand for Male Power the ability to reproduce Testicular cancer meetings also.Dildo in Marlas bedroom representing the fake male the fake man, the substitution of the real penis with a fake one reveals inferiority complex no need for the real man in the modern world.CINEMATOGRAPHYPrimarily the narrative of the film Fight Club is wholly centered on the male our protagonist varlet. We are back up as the spectator to emphasize with him, he navigates the shots in the Voice over the use of the word we is used to encourage identification from the spectator.Is there a problem with identification in this film because the spectator identifies with the protagonist Jack who turns out to be Tyler also so when Jack finds out he is Tyler not only do we experience the same surprise as him, the spectator is left feeling removed from identification? Misplaced just as man does in society?The creation of a microcosm in the house new world order fascism back to being real men, almost militarian (thats what they associate with manhood).Use of colour, lighting difference between the house and the flat, how Brad is framed with his chest exposed showing his muscular bole to portray the idealized man Jack want s to be.The decaying house, large empty insde and out (as its on an industrial estate) builds up a representation of the inner vacousness of the protagonist.MAGNOLIAPaul Thomas Andersons LA ensemble film Magnolia disrupts the classic Oedipal patterning common to many another(prenominal) mainstream films. The film repeatedly enacts a pronounced degree of male chastening and what amounts to an indictment of the system of set about ruleThe men of Magnolia are to some extent all feminized by circumstance or choice Earl, dying, is in need of care Phil is a compassionate male nurse Donnie is risible and wants to give love Jimmy, because of his illness, is dependent and Jim is a nurturing representative of the law who loses first his baton and then his gun, the phallic signifier par excellence. Even rude Mackey, who has closed down his native maidenly, is again a caretaker by the films end.The most recalcitrant male is Stanleys father, Rick. He suggests a barely controlled violence, throwing a contribute through the television as Stanley refuses to compete. A crisis in masculinity and male paradigms of power and behavior is posed. Clearly, the film is scrutinizing how to be a man and sleep with as a man in culture.FRANKThis notion is foregrounded by Franks Seduce and Destroy infomercials, which appear during different segments of the film, and his performance of masculinity for the internal diegetic male audience. The excess of language, gestures, and emotion here enact male hysteria. A wielding of language that speaks as a means to recapture and reanimate male power, it suggests a masculinity reasserting itself at the expense of women. Franks misogyny and anger toward women come to seem a projection, a denial of the self-loathing and father-loss that resulted in his becoming his mothers caretaker as she succumbed to cancer. Women seem to be a smokescreen for his pain, something he can door latch on to and feed his sense of rage.Frank, played by Cruise at h is best in his usual angry young man mode, is ably named as the teacher of ostensible truth, power and control who with arms nailed to an unobserved cross is communicate as an illuminated (Lucifer) savior. His crucified humanity, now a laughable shell, a persona with rigid firm ego boundaries of patent masculinity, launches a provocative assault, laced with inexplicable resentment, against Woman. His assumed control and power over his own vulnerability (fear of his undeveloped feminine component generalized as woman) results paradoxically from the rejection by and loss of his father followed by the incessant care of his slowly dying mother whom he was ineffective to save.PATERNITYStanley Spector to his father You need to start being nicer to meHis all-encompassing impotent rage is projected along with his need to control the symbolic Woman who constitutes the loss of his childhood and manhood.Like a fatherless boy of the ghetto, he shuns the excessive identification and nausea ting closeness associated with his mother and her powerless circumstance. To acquire her world would only confirm his loss and her power to destroy. To him she only means burden and loss of freedom thus he abuses Woman in order to detect control and detachment. Moreover, his loss of masculinity resulting from the inability to control the inevitable wo(e) and eventual death of his mother lead him to create and identify with what he lacks, a tidy male image. His artificial self-acquired mastery over himself results tragically from lack of opposition since he cannot win the mark of manhood by defeating a foe who is missing or a cause that is inexplicable.The welcome male crowd (representing the incomplete male) is willing to pay Frank to reveal his techniques to compensate for its loss and to overcome its incompleteness through the power of maintaining distance and control. But Frank paradoxically eventually finds redemption in what he denied, in the traditional female manner of acquiring power, through interaction with the Other. Frank, the rejected son finally confronts his dying father who is now unable to reply, apologize and expiate his guilt. Without the articulation and acceptance of his fathers sin, Frank cannot forgive or overcome the unknown one, he can only endure his memory. The physic release of his tormented repressed anger and simultaneous conflicted fear of another loss of and desire for his missing father is gripping. He faces uncertainty but his acceptance of his past and his anguished self, the veil of his repression and denial of his history is lift and results in the loosening of his current defences and his false self. The painful return from/to his original position confirms that rebirth is painful. He can now join the family of man.The initially compliant game show kid (J. Blackman) alters his condition of bondage by sacrificing the moment of glory by a paradoxical (anorexial) attempt to distract the game by controlling his body until he loses bladder control. When he realizes that adherence to arbitrary debilitating rules crushes creativity and freedom, he loses his ambition to surveil conventionally by a symbolic Freudian urethral discharge. some(prenominal) the game and his body are beyond his control. He confronts his parasitic father as an incomplete child (no mother), asking to be treated afresh with respect without having to constantly sacrifice himself to earn the love of his father.THE PHALLUSThe catch who shows an interest in her, needs no change, only completion by another, but he too demonstrates his universal deficiency by losing the badge of his profession, his gun. This loss of power is later recovered from the sky god and magically saves a life. His stability rests on his identification with the law which he chooses to constitute selectively as a wise judge with the power to put forward mercyCINEMATOGRAPHYMagnolia constructs the place of the female subject differently for the process of identification with the spectator. This is done by..Magnolia systematically rejects mainstream films signifying system. As Fiske notes, soap opera suggests the full treatment of a feminine aesthetic and thereby posits the audience as female (180).Magnolia subverts the classic masculine gaze and audience address usually associated with film.The masochistic position from which we piquet Magnolia is inscribed by the excessive music and by the competition of the musical discourse and the dialogue. This is doubly inscribed, as it were, because it speaks to the condition of the character as opposed to working in counterpoint to the image. For example, One (is the loneliest good turn ) plays while introducing these lonely characters over a close-up of the victimized and addicted Claudia, we adjudicate Save Me (You look like a girl who could use a tourniquet ). Soap operas exemplify such double- personad discourses in which dominant cultural forms allow women participation (Fiske 19 2). The predominant use of close-ups and extreme close-ups throughout the film also expresses this excess.There are two dramatic points of depature for melodrama. One is grim by a female protagonists viewpoint which provides a focus for identification. The other examines the family and between the sexes and generations here, although women play an important part, their point of view is not always analysed and does not initiate the drama pg 42 Mulvey.LMarcie, the unruly black woman at the edges of the text, shouts what appear to be empty threats, but the danger she evokes is shortly realized. The canted camera angles and frenzy of the editing, in addition to her shouting, foreground the level of disorder she represents. Handcuffed to a sofa, she continues to be verbally abusive as Jim investigates. displace the sofa from room to room, she becomes comic relief even as her powerful frame suggests a formidable adversary. Jim seems barely a match for Marcie, disdain her containment.J im MARCIE DO NOT DRAG THAT COUCH ANY FURTHER (Anderson 29).Coded as marginal, Marcie wreaks havoc on the established order to which she is subject but in which she has no place, except as the return of the repressed. Jim finds a dead man in her closet. As a black woman existing on the social margins, she is an enigma that Jim and the film refuse to solve.In terms of sex, too, Magnolia exposes the system of male hegemony and power. In most soap operas, the condition of women living under patriarchy is examined to promote a reading that women identify as correspondent to their own reality, which leads to tears.Doane refers to these melodramatic texts as activating the tropes of femininity (183) waiting, watching and self-sacrifice. finished Jimmy and Earl, marriage as a system is also undermined. Not only is Jimmy adulterous, alcoholic, womanizing, and guilty of incest, he has astonishing contempt for his wife. In one of the films most powerful scenes, move up learns the truth about her marriage, but it is also clear that she has known. Her performance of the dutiful wife, right up to the end, motivates Jimmys contempt.Rose can only face Jimmys molestation of Claudia when her husband breaks with the veneer of joint respect and love on which their marriage is based. The only women with power in Magnolia are the black women, and when we are with them we are sutured to the position of two of the films key white male characters, Frank and Jim. That we identify with these women anyway, and with their threat to Frank and Jim, speaks to Magnolias feminine positioning of the viewer. (a)Magnolia displaces film narrative to television text and shifts from the normative masculine viewing position to a feminine one. Magnolia is symptomatic of a crisis in masculinity and interrogates cultural texts such as cop shows, quiz shows, and infomercials. Magnolia is a subversive cultural product, an indictment of paradigms of male hegemony and power, and a critique of the media systems of film and television.The films privileging of the soundtrack is unusual. Paul Thomas Anderson conceives the film in relation to one of Aimee Manns songs and envisions her voice as another character in the film (Anderson 204). Her voice does thusly constitute another character to such an extent that at times it upsets the normative hierarchy of discourses that mainstream films espouse. The use of such a counternarrative strategy and the predomination of a strong female voice working against and at times doubling the text also point to Magnolias challenge to the male textual film system and more traditionally masculine narratives. Manns voice is like a commentary on the action, pulling us in to watch the film from a female viewing position.BIBLIOGRAPHYDillman, Joanne Clark Magnolia Masquerading as Soap Opera, daybook of Popular Film and Television 33 no3 142-50 Fall 2005Dines, Gail Gender, Race and Class in the mediaBrod,H. (Ed) (1987) The making of masculinitiesVarious, The trouble with men Masculinities in europeon and Hollywood cinema.Fuery,Patrick (2000) tender Developments In Film Theory- Palgrave, New York,Male Spectatorship and the Hollywood Love tommyrot Mackinnon, Kenneth. Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2003, Carfax PublishingClassical Hollywood Cinema Film Style Mode of Production to 1960 Bordwell, David. Staiger, Janet. Thompson, Kristin Publication London Taylor Francis Routledge, 1988.FILMOGRAPHYFight Club () Dir David FincherMagnolia (1999) Paul Thomas AndersonRocky ( 198 200 )Thelma and Louise (1991)Dir Ridley Scott

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