Today, many of our perceptions are deceived by systemic stereotypes, often fogging our own ability understand ourselves. This is what suppresses the main character, and a group of other members, in David Fincher’s Fight Club. In the film, both male and female characters are stereotypical and overly sexualized. The film is extremely generalized and Fincher accomplishes this by presenting the characters with no desire to come against the reality of gender norms. The conventions that are held as a standard in the film are the orthodox characteristics of how men are supposed to appear. The director uses hyper masculinity and tyrannical control as the catalyst to the perspective that their identity is a subconscious power struggle for self-identification.
Stereotypes in media have been around since the earliest cartoons were drawn. The media gives supposedly identifying traits with images of the stingy Jewish man, the single Hispanic woman cleaning homes to raise her three children, and the “butch” lesbian falling for the beautiful blonde who just happens to glance at her every day in the hallway. These portrayals make up general knowledge about minorities for a lot of people, but their accuracy is questionable at best. While production companies have been making strides towards the better, insufficient representation in the media tends to portray minorities as their negative stereotypes rather than as people.
Response The documentaries Tough Guys and Killing us Softly, really brought to light the way masculinity and femininity are represented in our society. The characteristics and associations that are made when these words are thought of are bizarre and not natural. I strongly believe that both masculinity and femininity are learned characteristics from the human environment. I often wonder if people would even have these ideas and characteristics that are associated with gender in the beginning of time, or if people have slowly began to define and differentiate the genders throughout the evolution of time.
“Tired of being out of shape and out of luck with the opposite sex?” begins the film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Director and screenwriter Rawson Marshall Thurber immediately defines the atmosphere of the film as that of comparison and competition with this opening scene. As the plot furthers, this competitive attitude intensifies as main characters Peter Lefleur and White Goodman struggle for dominance. The film demonstrates a vertical homosocial relationship between the two men, in which a hierarchy of masculinity is created “through competition and exclusion” (Hammaren and Johansson 3). White Goodman’s evident wealth and influence lead him to threaten the manhood of Peter Lefleur in order to further his own masculine reputation.
The bonds are between the two main characters, Brian Taylor and Miguel Zavala, the Los Angeles Police Department, and Miguel and Bloods gang member, Tre. In this essay, I plan to demonstrate a working knowledge of the social control theory and how it relates to the main characters of the movie. Social Control Theory
The masculine lens aims to see how men impact societies or works as a whole they're in. It also aims to see how societies will impact men, how women will impact men, or even how men will impact other men. Fight Club, (the 1999 film adaptation of the book by Chuck Palahniuk) was directed by David Fincher, who is well known for psychological thrillers such as Seven and Zodiac. Fincher is known to heavily research before writing his scripts, and for his attention to detail. This should be considered while viewing Fight Club as most everything is done on purpose and with a more than surface level meaning.
Three correction officers created a sadistic secret society on a Rikers Island cellblock, ordering prisoners to extort and beat other inmates. Officers Michael McKie, Khalid Nelson and Denise Albright called their fight club “The Program,” and the teens they recruited as enforcers were called “The Team” (Rayman, 2009). Team members were allowed to extort commissary money, clothing and phone privileges from other city jail inmates. Those who didn’t cooperate when they were asked “are you with it” were beaten and Mr. McKie and Mr. Nelson set the time, place and punishment (Rayman, 2009). I believe that the purpose of this program is for the correctional officers to extort money from other inmates for their own personal gains.
Similar to Sapolsky, Katz argues that the media teaches men from a young age to be tough, aggressive, and not to show emotional vulnerability. This is what he calls the “tough guise” or the artificial definition of manhood that forces men to conform to society’s expectations by being “tough” and powerful and hiding their emotions. In the beginning of the film Katz shows interviews with various young males where he asks what it means to be a man, and all of them provide an answer referring to strength, such as “powerful,” “intimidating,” “strong,” and of course, “tough.” When asked what a male is called when they fail to live up to these expectations, the young men replied, “wuss,” “fag,” or “sissy.” Katz points out that this just one of numerous methods that society uses to contain young men in this “tough guise” box, using insults to drive them to perform the way they believe a man should.
The Great Gatsby and Fight Club both depict similar themes in which I will be discussing throughout this essay. Both the film and the novel have many comparisons which can be made within the text. Although the novel Fight Club and the film The Great Gatsby were made several years apart they both have similar concepts and depict a variety of themes including The American Dream which I will be. Not only will I be examining the degeneration of the American Dream but also how male and female relationships work and the symbolisation of women and how they represent the American Dream in both Fight Club and The Great Gatsby. As I began to read Fight Club I noticed that the American Dream was perceived as freedom, equality and opportunity for all,
What constitutes “masculinity?” Sadly, the term has been defined so harshly that it is having detrimental effects on our society. The definitions of gender roles bombard us everywhere, from books, to advertisements, to movies, there is seemingly no place one can hide from these absurd standards. Canadian sociologist Aaron H. Devor points out in his article “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender,” that gender norms are learned early on in life, burdening children with these restrictions (388). This is what makes movies which clearly reject and mock gender roles, such as The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, so refreshing.
Ta’s, Hurt So Good: Fight Club, Masculine Violence, and the Crisis of Capitalism, she discusses how the narrator and Tyler, who we learn at the end of the movie are the same person, create this Fight Club because they are feeling like their masculinity is at stake. She backs this up by bringing up the fact that the narrator, who she calls “Jack,” goes to different support groups where he is surrounded by people that allow him to act less masculine. The first group we see him attend is called, “Remaining Men Together,” where men who have or have had testicular cancer go to express their feelings, she recounts this as an example of her claim because “Jack” becomes a regular attendee even though he does not have nor has he ever had testicular cancer. He just goes to have somewhere he can let his emotions out.
However, despite being “unsure of their futures, with nowhere to direct their anger and no one to assuage their fears” (GEN X – SITE SOURCE), the characteristic of Generation X which really draws parallels to Palahniuk’s novel is the high divorce rate of the time. The impact of an influential feminized society is yet again bolstered by the norm of a woman being in complete control as a result of fathers leaving the household. In the novel, Jack mentions his absent father, and thus begins seeing a father figure in Tyler after having lacked strong male models whilst growing up. To the cohort of members in Fight Club feeling effeminate as a result, Tyler concludes that they are a “generation of men raised by women” (PAGE), further nourishing the men’s desire to fight and express their wrath to regain their identities. Due to their upbringing, the men in Fight Club lack a masculine portrayal, and hence idealize Tyler as the sole example of what masculinity should be.
Dave Barry’s “Guys vs. Men” is a satirical essay that explores the gender-based notions society has placed on the behaviours of individuals. Barry specifically focuses on males, and centers his essay on what characteristics a guy possesses as opposed to a man. He describes men who try to exhibit manly behavior as serious, and develop “stupid behavioural patterns” that produce violence. With a humourous tone, Barry argues that there is another way to look at males: “not as aggressive macho dominators; not as sensitive, liberated, hugging drummers; but as guys”. Barry proceeds to illustrate three characteristics guys embody: they like neat stuff, they like a really pointless challenge, and they do not have a rigid and well-defined moral code.
In the onset of a 1999 film entitled Fight Club, by David Fincher, the viewer can identify a dominant and submissive representation between the Narrator and Tyler Durden - the Narrator’s alter ego. The film continuously displays how the Narrator gains an intimate relationship with Tyler once they meet on a flight for a business trip. The two move in together and become inseparable, such as a monogamous relationship. Fincher’s Fight Club constantly gives innuendoes of sexual allegories and dominant roles throughout the film depicting the Narrator’s insecurities and vulnerabilities.
Unfortunately, toxic masculinity plays a role in every society, therefore many people, mostly men, put on a “mask” to hide behind in order to make a false impression of their best selves. No matter who it is, everyone has a way that they want people to know them by, which is why it plays such an important role. The book Lord of the Flies is a fiction text about a group of young boys whose plane crashes after it was shot down during a war. The boys turn from civilized to savages on their long journey on the island as they become less and less of a society. Toxic masculinity affects society in more ways than one and often is used to get ahead or to be seen as superior.
Ex Machina With technology always changing and improving artificial intelligence or AI for short is becoming a realistic goal for inventors. Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, uses this popular topic to create an engaging film that on the surface is about artificial intelligence but when viewers take a deeper look the audience will see that the film also covers issues in our society. Throughout Ex Machina, Nathan and Caleb are both testing a robot girl, Ava to see if she can function as a normal human. At first glance Nathan seems like the antagonist of the film, Caleb is portrayed as the protagonist, and Ava is the helpless female stereotype that is portrayed in many films.