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Essays about masculinity in media
Masculinity in films
Discuss the representation of violence in media
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Essays about masculinity in media
Masculinity in films
Discuss the representation of violence in media
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Countless Americans lack education of the Vietnam War and what treatment the Vietnamese population received during the war. Many times the behavior conducted towards the Vietnamese portrayed American soldiers mistreating the noncombatants. James W. Loewen’s chapter nine of Lies My Teacher Told Me leads readers through the occurrences in the Vietnam War by elaborating the war crimes enacted by American soldiers, examining the intervention of America in the war, and describing pictures that were taken during the war. One subject Loewen uncovers is the analysis of the war crimes throughout the Vietnam War.
The author observed that most criminals and or police officers are men. He associates this with the importance for a man to prove his masculinity to others. “Violent acts committed by men, whether these acts break the law or are designed to uphold it, are often a way of demonstrating the perpetrator’s manhood” (pg.135). This gendered violence is often experienced by boys in poor neighborhoods at a young age. This form of masculinity is described by Rios to be the center of police youth interactions, which has influences many young men to live lives of defiance and
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.
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.
When we talk about masculinity in America today we theorize that violence that happens more often than we like, from mass shootings or crime in general, including rape and murders in the real world and in the virtual thrill world of videogames and movies we find a parallel connection of masculinity as violent. Even though an overwhelming majority of violence is committed by men and boys we as americans rarely connect gender as a major key in violence. But when we lay out the plane lines about culture of violence were almost always hinting that it is a masculine trait that is a taught behavior. The modern society has conjured up the idea of the ideal man, that showing emotions is wrong but one must be charming, seeming smartish but more of an attitude of control showing that manhood has a hierarchy. Weakening the not so tough guy, society giving them labels to show they are outside of the gender binary.
This is why masculinity and gender inequality come hand in hand, and why women have a disproportionately higher chance of being assaulted, raped, and murdered over men.
Throughout the book Holden describes phoniness in different ways and what each person he is describing that is phony. In the beginning of the book Holden believes that everyone at Pencey Prep are phonies because they are more interested in becoming a part of soceity to look good. He also feels that people at Pencey Prep don’t say anything honest and are super judgy. In the 4th chapter he says that people in movies are phonies beause they use fake emotions and lie in the part that they are playing. Overall in the book holden uses the word phony as that when people lie or have a certain tone to ther voice that seems phony.
Multiple other places exist where young men learn these behaviors, such as community, school, and in their family; however, Katz argues that one of the most powerful influences is the country’s pervasive media. For example, as movies have progressed, men have grown larger as women grow smaller. Movies such as Rocky, Rambo, and even the Godfather show men as inherently violent, strong, and emotionally underdeveloped, and this becomes the ideal image for boys just as the beautiful, nurturing, thin woman becomes the ideal for girls. Similar to Sapolsky, Katz believes that in order to lessen violence, our society needs to show honest and diverse representations of males rather than blaming
History has repeatedly given men privilege due to their physical advantages; yet it is these same advantages that have developed into “rules” or expectations that all men should conform to in order to prove their manhood. Michael Kimmel’s essay, “‘Bros Before Hos': The Guy Code” outlines the “rules” where men are expected to never show any emotions, be brave, act knowledgeable, be risk takers, be in control, act reliable, and be competitive, otherwise they would be showing weakness which is analogous to women. It is humiliating that men associate weakness with women; they should focus on the potential of the individual rather than their gender. Most insults toward men attack their masculinity because society finds it shameful for men to be
Horror films are undeniably an interesting form of art that surprisingly, most males like to experience. In popular culture, as a male, gaining unquestionable masculinity is very essential. But there are always exceptions, what are these exceptions? Slasher films, in Carol Clover’s words, are “the immensely generative story of a psychokiller who slashes to death a string of mostly female victims...until he is subdued or killed, by the one girl who has survived” (Clover 193). Slasher Films portray a noticeably emerging pattern in horror films where killer, normally male, is ultimately eliminated by the female protagonist that was left to fend for herself.
Tough Guise 1. What are some benefits to boys and men of putting on the “tough guise”? When is it an effective and adaptive response, and when is it self-destructive and dangerous to others? 2. Are there biological reasons why males commit the vast majority of violence?
Over time, the thought patterns of many individuals mould to believe only one perception of what is morally acceptable— a perception that is completely faulty. The ideology of the male body and demeanor is only one of the many societal norms constructed by the media, and it alone can result in mental health fatalities, mass violence, or the mere elimination of self-identity whilst attempting to meet the ever-changing ideals of masculinity. The continuous and stereotypical depiction of masculinity in the media has idealized invulnerability, toughness and physical strength as the sole qualities of a ‘true man’. As a result, the complexity of masculinity is flattened, and immense pressures are placed on individuals to meet requirements that are entirely faulty. According to Katz, cultures, topics, and even genders are not one-dimensional; in order to fully comprehend the meaning the entirety of something, one must look at more than its representation in the media.
In Acting Like a Tough Guy: Violent:-Sexist
There is a lot of pressure on men in society to be manly; however, what exactly does it mean to be manly? Though many people have different opinions, a lot of them conclude that a man has to be strong and somewhat emotionless to be considered a man. This assumption can lead to Toxic Masculinity, which is “A false idea that men are expected to be as manly as possible” (The Hard, Adrenaline-Soaked Truth About 'Toxic Masculinity, 2017). Men are forced to face these assumptions not only from those around him, but also from people he might see in Media. Media reinforces Toxic Masculinity which in turn causes men to belittle women.
Throughout history, we tend to correlate toughness and aggression with men, but maybe it doesn 't always have to be like that? Maybe it doesn 't have to be a norm anymore to be aggressive. Another article titled Boy 's Emotional Needs by Sarah Glazer was published on June 18th, 1998. This article was published shortly after the tragedy most of us know to be the Columbine shootings. She related the issues we see in men nowadays to the issues the two men who shot their classmates were suffering with.