Both American Psycho (1991) and Fight Club (1996) have prominent themes of masculine identity and its presentation in modern society. In this essay, I will compare how Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk explore the concepts and themes of masculinity through their use of language, structure, and portrayal of the protagonists. Through the use of unreliable narration, progressive increase in violence, the stigmas of mental health, anti-capitalist themes, and references to existential philosophy, both novels highlight the issues with masculinity in a consumerist society. Both novels were written in the 1990s and explore masculine identity through this lens; both Ellis and Palahniuk are gay men, who would have experienced masculinity differently …show more content…
This can be seen almost immediately in fight club, when, in chapter 2, the narrator says “I never give my real name at support groups” this is in reference to the support groups that he attends in order to combat his insomnia, support groups in which he pretends he has the illness and struggles that the others have. The use of the words ‘real’ and ‘name’ together are impactful in setting up the further themes of the novel; this is because our names are our primary identities, they are how people identify us and how they refer to us; the narrator of Fight Club is never given a name, he is lacking his primary identity and this affects how he relates to other and himself, only ever using a guise of identity, fake names at support groups. The only aspect of the narrator given a name, an identity, is his alter ego: Tyler Durden. Tyler is an analogy for toxic masculinity and the ‘freedom’ afforded to people by American capitalism. It is this Lack of identity that leads to the narrator’s subconscious creation of his alter ego, this is supported by the essay ‘The Search for Identity: A New Critical Analysis of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club’ when it says “In order to cope with his namelessness, the narrator manifests everything he wants to be in the character of Tyler Durden. Tyler is the polar opposite of the narrator. With regards to image, he is characterized as being strong, masculine, and forthright.” (Tarasenko et al. The Search for Identity: A New Critical Analysis of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club) American psycho addresses this lack of identity in similar ways, Ellis often has characters mistaking other characters for one another and calling them different names, this happens to the protagonist Patrick Bateman too, when even his lawyer mistakes him for another person, in the chapter named ‘New Club’, in this
The ability to understand male role models allows for a more intelligent understanding as to why boys act the way they do, and why our conceived notion on what being a boy changes. While examining the movie Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater, and the entry “Boyhood” by Eric Tribunella, manhood is defined by “the ability to dominate, care for, or exercise power over others”, while “to be a boy means to be flawed, inchoate, or incomplete” (Tribunella). The movie and the entry both enlighten audiences with examples of boyhood and how it changes and shifts from each person. Linklater’s
The sexism and masculine norms put out by society are a struggle for men everyday. Men’s mental health is seriously impacted by sexism and masculine norms set out by society. In the film, “The Mask You Live In”, young boys and men talk about their experiences dealing with these norms and how it has affected them today and continues to impact them. Men have to face masculine norms such as, violence, self-reliance, power over women, winning and risk-taking. These brave men go against the societal idea for men and talk about how it feels to be different in a society that is telling you different is
This documentary is described on the WGSS BlackBoard page as a documentary that “follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.” This struggle is shown in many different ways and there are many different reasons given for it. Throughout the course of the documentary, many different topics from this semester of this WGSS class are touched upon. For example, the effects of toxic masculinity and the way sexual/gendered language are shown in the everyday lives of these boys and men.
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.
Tobias Wolff’s memoir, ‘This Boy’s life’ explores his record of growing up in 1950s post-war America, frequented with tropes surrounding masculinity, identity, and relationships between individuals. Throughout the text Jack frequently attempts to ‘run away’ and escape from his past identity in the literal sense in hopes that it will allow a change of character. Jack also takes on facades dissimilar to his own in an attempt to adapt to an identity. Moreover, the reason Jack attempts to assume different identities is due to the ‘social norm’ and masculine expectations of that time period.
One Minority Man There are many examples of social influence and group behavior in the movie Twelve Angry Men. Some of these concepts that appear often are how the ‘majority men’ use argumentative strategies to further polarize their group’s opinion, how the ‘one minority man’ was treated, and how the peripheral and central route of persuasion―especially in the case of prejudice―was used. The story is about twelve men on a jury for a murder case in 1954.
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.
In the book, Masculine Interests by Robert Lang, the topics heavily address the long journey of identifying as “man” and becoming masculine through representation in cinema. The author, Robert Lang, points out that many men—such as Chuck Norris—would grow up watching their own onscreen heroes and wish to be like them, forming traits and personalities around the men they like best. This is representative of the “masculine interest” in which man takes interest in masculinity and other men through media, but this is not necessarily in a traditionally homosexual manner. The text makes claims that men are meant to learn from movies as to “how to perform gendered identities that are at least not misogynist or homophobic—but as means of achieving
The Rocky franchise has had an enduring effect on not only boxing films, but the movie industry in general, as shown in Creed. The film Creed follows the theatrical blueprint outlined in the legacy Rocky franchise, with its combination of emotional depth and intense, realistic boxing scenes. As in any good sports movie, the main character is an underdog facing personal challenges that can only be overcome through hard-work and dedication. Both Creed and the original Rocky films explore the themes of family relationships, fatherhood, masculinity and what it means to be a champion. Creed brings the format into the modern era, and spotlights race and masculinity in the current American boxing world.
This progression is mainly seen in the fight scenes as the narrator becomes more careless about how he is hurting other members. At first, “the director elected to take a more objective view of the fights, often locking the camera down to a fixed position. However, the filmmakers did want the fights to become increasingly brutal as the story developed. At first, the camera was more of an observer. As the fights progressed, the camera took more of the point of view of the fighter” (Probst 6).
Masculinity. It can be argued that no one word has undergone such a dramatic shift during the past century, as masculinity. In many ways J.D. Salinger’s groundbreaking novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, and its main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, were both ahead of their time as they realized masculinity could not have a uniform definition. The reader is led on a journey by Holden, from fancy prep schools to the tough streets of New York City, all in the search for one thing: the meaning of masculinity. Holden’s search for identity culminates in his failure to conform to societal standards of masculinity, allowing Salinger to effectively question the need for such strict standards which seemingly only inhibit personal growth.
This paper is going to be analyzing the documentary, Tough Guise 2, in relation to the movie, Fight club. Tough Guise 2 presented by Jackson Katz, analyzes violence caused by men as he questions why men act as they do. Katz’s goal is to raise awareness of the avoidance of toxic masculinity by teaching what he believes a “real man” is perceived as. Fight Club directed by David Fincher, is an example of the ultimate toxic masculinity Tough Guise 2 argues against. Both the movie and the documentary discuss how a man's influences, the importance of fitting in, and mental state play a role in violence.
Andrew Slawson Professor Morowitz HNRS 353 1 September 2014 American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis The 1991 novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is a satirical story detailing the daily life and internal monologue of late-1980s New York City businessman and serial killer Patrick Bateman, a man devoid of empathy and obsessed with how he presents himself to others. Most of the novel is told in a stream-of-consciousness style from the unreliable point of view of the protagonist, and mistaken identity is a consistent theme throughout the novel. As a result, it becomes difficult to determine whether the events that take place are the delusions of Bateman’s psychotic mind or actual facets of reality.
There are many different ways that reader can choose to interpret a literary work that they are reading or examining. The Freudian lens is one of the many tools that helps reader understand the in depth meaning of the main characters through their behaviors, characteristics, actions and their surroundings. Fight Club, a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, can also be interpreted by using the Freudian theory to analyze the main character, Joe (the narrator) and his discreet personality, Tyler Durden. The story is about the narrator’s depressing life in which he has been suffering from reality, until he has created another personality that represents his desire. In Fight Club, the narrator’s traits of aggressiveness, his desire and his sense of
Through his psychoanalytic theory the writer respectfully expounds males identify with masculinity by not behaving as their female caretakers act. Mr. Carter based