Who and What Defines Masculinity?

654 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: toxic masculinity in fight club

While praised for exposing the complete dysfunction of our culture’s basic assumption about masculinity and delusion it causes in the psyche of men, the movie Fight Club intended to make people consider different perspectives of what defines masculinity. The movie illustrates the “brilliant exposition of the scars that form in a man’s psyche when his seat of masculinity is repressed by a society that looks for compliance rather than powerful individualization…” (“Fight Club, Masculinity Movies”). The movie also illustrates how society, perhaps unknowingly to some, shapes the male identity, through exploitation. In the movie, one man’s struggles with masculinity are highlighted through various trials and tribulations; similar to rites of passage, specifically that period of time when a person reaches a new and noteworthy stage in their lives, marked by transition. The movie suggests that through the rites of passage, men can become liberated. Going deeper, “it focuses on the dehumanizing impact of the three big Cs: consumerism, corporatism, and capitalism” (Chowning 2). Unfortunately, consumerism, corporatism, and capitalism unknowingly rob many individuals of their identity, and this dehumanization deprives us of our best human qualities.

As it relates to consumerism, Fight Club illustrates how some individuals tie personal possessions to their self-identity. “This attitude of defining self-identity through a consumer culture has become institutionalized in the American society… and addresses the excessive consumerism as a sign of emotional emptiness and as a form of self-destruction” (Briggs, par. 1). The movie implies a man is not defined by his belongings. In fact, “men who resist compromising their masculinity for th...

... middle of paper ...

...for Class Warfare - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com." Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. .

"Fight Club, Masculinity Movies." Masculinity. Movies. Men. Growth. » Masculinity-Movies.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. .

Rothe-Kushel, Jethro. "The Film Journal...Passionate and informed film criticism from an auteurist perspective." The Film Journal...Passionate and informed film criticism from an auteurist perspective.. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. .

Ta, Lynn M. "Hurt So Good: Fight Club, Masculine Violence, and the Crisis of Capitalism." The Journal of American Culture 29.3 (2006): 265-277. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Tough Guise

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movie, Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity produced by Jackson Katz and Jeremy Earp, deconstructs the concepts that create the social constructs of masculinity. Masculinity, a set of behaviors, roles, and attributes correlating to men, is earned, not given (Conley 190). Starting from television shows to children’s toys, the idea of masculinity has infiltrated their minds starting at a young age. Moreover, the concept of masculinity has physical attributes, such as muscles, a deep voice, and be able to protect themselves. Masculinity, for boys of any races, socioeconomic classes, or ethnicity, has grown up with the same stereotypical image of what a man should entail. Since many media outlets show that a form of masculinity

    Read More

  • Tyler Durden Fight Club Essay

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    Essentially, fighting relieves the blunted affect associated with post-industrialism by revivifying the masculine tendencies suppressed by a feminizing culture. The tension between the industrious and post-industrious is presented in Fight Club with the bruised and bloodied male being constructed as the more masculine, whereas the clean and crisp male is constructed as the more feminine. That is to say that the bruised and bloody male represents the masculine identity absent in the post-industrial consumer society (Iocco

    Read More

  • Gatsby Fight Club

    2329 Words  | 5 Pages

    These men never attain the masculinity or authenticity they chased endlessly. They don’t find peace or even meaning. They don’t seem to ever form truly intimate bonds with other human beings. Their relationship to material wealth consumes them in one way or another, and this is the final conclusion on what American consumer culture does to the individual man.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between 1984 And Fight Club

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    “In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four” (Orwell 250). Winston lives in a time where a set of rules preventing him to be free are imposed on him – the Party defines what freedom is and is not. “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows (Orwell 103)”.   Winston expresses his views on The Party within his diary even though he knows it is not accepted by The Party or the Thought Police.  The narrator in Fight Club uses fighting as a form of escapism from his anti-consumerist ideologies revealed by his alter-ego, Tyler Durden. “Fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns. I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let’s evolve—let the chips fall where they may. (Fight Club)” Tyler urges the narrator to stop conforming to consumerist-imposed views of perfection and break barriers to evolve. Tyler and the narrator create a medium for people in similar positions to escape from societal bound norms; it is aptly named “Fight Club”. In comparison, both Tyler Durden and the narrator from Fight Club and Winston Smith from 1984 share

    Read More

  • Fight Club

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    The fight club exists because individuals get weighted down by possessions causing them to miss the deep meaning of life. Most of the people in the fight club hold service jobs or lower level management jobs that are meaningless. Society becomes so rationalized that one must push themeself to the extreme in order to feel anything or accomplish anything.

    Read More

  • Masculinity in "Fight Club"

    2237 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...from all material items and does not use society’s standards as the rules to his identity. According to Fight Club, Tyler has found his masculine identity and the members of Fight Club are able to do this as well by enduring the pain of Fight Club and not conforming to society’s standards. When one is not tied down to material items and possessions to define them, they see their true identity. This masculinity defined by Fight Club is the theory that freedom comes from having nothing; thereby men are liberated by society’s confines, most specifically the male American Dream.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Masculinity In Fight Club

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, masculinity is a reoccurring theme that is present throughout the novel and is directly linked to the creation of Fight Club in the first place. After meeting Tyler Durden, the narrator’s masculinity and outlook on life starts to dramatically change. In result of this change, the theme of masculinity becomes very disastrous throughout the novel very quickly because Palahniuk uses masculinity in order to explain the many problems the consumer driven males may struggle with. In this case, the narrator’s masculinity is constantly in question because of his struggles with insomnia, consumer driven lifestyle, and Marla Singer.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Martin Scorsese's Film Auteur

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on

    Read More

  • Aspects Of Masculinity In Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, the perception of common and rare gender aspects is carefully manipulated with in an ironical gambit in order to bring to light significant gender misconceptions placed by society. Masculinity is especially a critical aspect in the development of multiple characters, including the main characters. These gender roles serve as not only a way of character development, but also on a deeper root, a root that travels back to the author’s intuition and mindset. I believe that Palahniuk utilizes gender roles in order to impugn what society has labeled as the standard set of femininity and masculinity; to reveal that it is still genuinely acceptable acting in way that is deviated from what society calls normal and still live a happy life. The objective of this paper is to examine how and why Palahniuk might direct his novel in

    Read More

  • One’s True Identity in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ruddell, Caroline. "Virility and vulnerability, splitting and masculinity in Fight Club: a tale of contemporary male identity issues." Extrapolation 48.3 (2007): 493+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • Hitchcock's Auteur Theory

    1259 Words  | 3 Pages

    When we think of the greatest films in history, certain names come to mind: Griffith, Murnau, Kuleshov, Hitchcock, Spielberg, Tarantino, and the list goes on. Good movies allow actors to be praised for years, but great movies make their directors indelible for centuries. The director of a film is equal to a novel writer, which defines the auteur theory (Module 13). The auteur theory(politique des auteurs) gives special attention to film directors over any other role in the filmmaking process, arguing that a film is a reflection of the director’s artistic vision. The man behind the theory just so happened to be one of the most recognized directors of the French New Wave, François Truffaut, who stood at the heart of the movement, starting in

    Read More

  • Auteur Theory

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    The conception of the auteur in the 1951 by Andre Bazin and Francois Truffaut who coined the phrase ‘del la politique des auteurs’, has led to diverse explorations into not only the validity of the theory of auteurism but also the theory’s value within the study of film. Many notable critics have weighed in on the concept of the auteur such as Andrew Sarris in 1962, who developed the notion of the auteur into a theory that could then be applied to the study of film. Although, it must be noted that Sarris’ theory had no scientific elements that could benefit the study of film from a scientific viewpoint and is based on personal opinions and preferences. The theory was subsequently challenged by Pauline Kael in 1963 who examined the elements

    Read More

  • Fight Club's Criticism of the American Dream

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    "How Fight Club Relates to Men's Struggles with Masculinity and Violence in Contemporary Culture." HubPages. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. .

    Read More

  • Marxism In Fight Club

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fight Club “Its only after we’ve lost everything are we free to do anything”, Tyler Durden as (Brad Pitt) states, among many other lines of contemplation. In Fight Club, a nameless narrator, a typical “everyman,” played as (Edward Norton) is trapped in the world of large corporations, condominium living, and all the money he needs to spend on all the useless stuff he doesn’t need. As Tyler Durden says “The things you own end up owning you.” Fight Club is an edgy film that takes on such topics as consumerism, the feminization of society, manipulation, cultism, Marxist ideology, social norms, dominant culture, and the psychiatric approach of the human id, ego, and super ego. “It is a film that surrealistically describes the status of the American

    Read More

  • Psychology Of Masculinity

    228 Words  | 1 Pages

    This paper will discuss the how hypermasculinity and its psychological effects being dependent on gender roles, and the history of masculinity; taking the psychological approach to asses this topic. In the beginning of the paper masculinity is defined as being the way a male is supposed to act and live because of the gender role placed on them at birth. The idea that there is only one kind of man; handsome, muscular and driven is unfit for society as a whole. From there the psychology behind masculinity is discussed to which will tie into the fragility of the masculinity complex and how it poses a threat to young adolescent men globally; validating cultural elements are bequeathed in making gender roles. Society, politics, and religion advertise

    Read More

More about Who and What Defines Masculinity?

Open Document