Nick Smith
Relational Dynamics
Mr. Bauer
November 21, 2015
Mud Response
Mud shows the development and maturing of Ellis as he interacts with Mud and the other characters in the movie. It shows his struggles with defining masculinity and how people are stereotyped in the world around him. He is taught that women are weak and can be cruel while also being taught that men have to be strong, chase love, and be harsh about their ways. Ellis follows this idea through most of the film which leads him to be closer to Mud than Neckbone is in the beginning. He trusts Mud immediately and does almost everything he is told, going as far as stealing to help him. He is fed a delusional sense of what love is and doesn 't ever really gain a full understanding
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Men in Mud are expected to be tough and dominant, but it is shown otherwise. Ellis ' father is tough and a little mean, but he is bossed around by his wife, which directly contradicts what the stereotype is in this movie. Juniper actively decides where Mud goes because he is so obsessed with her that he follows wherever she is. In that instance he is not in any control, but he is blindly following her. Towards the end, he becomes independent of her and almost falls into the stereotype of men in the movie, but he is caring. Men aren 't depicted to care in the movie, but it is shown throughout that they care much more than anyone expects of them. Being a man in the world of Mud is more than fitting into the social standards that have been set. It is about being strong and holding up your beliefs, and not being afraid to care. Men like Mud and Ellis ' father shape how Ellis becomes a man and how his values are formed.
Ellis and Neckbone mature at different rates in the movie Mud, but they become very different. Ellis is much more closed off at the end of the movie while. Neckbone has opened up to the world. The movie shows how stereotypes don 't define men or women, but they can confine them if they are not brave enough to