Masculinity In Movies

759 Words4 Pages

Masculinity is a topic that has been challenged in our society for many years in different forms. It has been debated in discussion but, primarily in movies that our children watch. Being the ‘Alpha Male’ has always meant to have characteristics such as, Independence, Strong, Non-emotional, Competitive, and Aggressive. Though culture has assigned what masculinity betrays, huge film industries such as Pixar haven’t held back on showing the world that being a macho man isn’t always the best thing to be seen as. The ultramodern man is characterized to have feminine like qualities. Being able to show emotion and sensitivity was frown upon until the gateway of perception was created. Gilliam and Wooden mentioned in their article “Post-Princess Models …show more content…

The socialization of masculinity in our society begins as early as the first stages of infancy. The brain of a child is said to be like a sponge. Pixar movies have always projected moralities and sense of encouragement for boys to be able to succeed in their mission through empowerment. However, In TED Talk “How Movies Teach Man Hood” Stokes’s mentions how Star Wars is all but the contrary of what Pixar defines. This story is told through violence and the idea that by being tough and showing no sense of humility or femininity their able to reach their goals, get their prize, and the girl at the end. Stokes’s continued with “Is he picking up on the fact that Luke joins an army to overthrow the government? Is he picking up on the fact that there are only boys in the universe except for Aunt Beru. And of course, this princess who’s; really cool, but who kind of waits around through most of the movie so that she can award the hero with a medal and a wink to thank him for saving the universe, which he does by the magic that he was born with?” (Stokes’s 2:37). What our boys see on the big screen defiantly implants an idea of how a male figure should be, therefore taking on that personality and being attached to the idea that they can be just like