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Critical analysis of fight club
Masculinity in modern society
Masculinity in modern society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Critical analysis of fight club
Masculinity in modern society
Masculinity in modern society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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
Peter’s sexual conquest and financial gain based on his risk-taking behavior allow him to establish his high rank along the hierarchy of masculinity. Furthermore, Peter’s actions demean the masculinity that White had so tirelessly attempted to promote. Defeated, White storms off in an emotional rage. The camera follows him from a higher angle, amplifying the weak, feminine nature of his expression. Peter’s and White’s relationship is defined by vertical homosociality, in which competition and gender policing is prevalent.
Society tends to ignore the struggle of masculine norms men face everyday. In the film, “The Mask You Live In”, various ages of men discuss what it is like to live in a society filled with sexism and masculine norms. In the film, it is shown the impact of these norms society puts forth for men is catastrophic and negatively impacts their mental health. A few masculine norms that are found within the film are, self-reliance, violence, power over women, winning and risk-taking. Self-reliance is a big topic to cover in regards to masculine norms.
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.
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.
Toxic masculinity paints a caricature of masculinity that is characterized by detachment, dominance, and aggression. It relies on the notion that manliness is governed by rigid gender conformity. Morrison’s male characters, like Jude and Shadrack, exemplify traits of toxic masculinity throughout
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.
Jackson Katz’s film Tough Guise 2 seeks to expose how the media promotes a toxic ideology behind what makes a man masculine and show that it is a social construct. For decades print, television, videogames, and film have presented masculinity in a way that makes men think the only way to be manly is to be emotionally unavailable, sexually aggressive, and violent. This ideology has been a curse on culture in America and many other countries around the world. “We're not living in the Wild West. We're not a Third World nation” (Katz).
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.