I just got back from viewing "Father and Gun" and this movie also displayed a lot of masculinity characteristics. The movie was about a father and son who are on the police force in a special unit. They were on a mission trying to capture a biker gang. During their sting operation, the son's best friend who is also on the special force unit, gets kidnapped. The father and son do not know of the best friend's where abouts. The only person who would know would be the biker gangs defense lawyer. Mean while the lawyer is having family problems and his son hates him. It came to the lawyer's wife's realization that the lawyer and his son need a special retreat so they could bond and solve their problems. So they end up going through with a program that takes a group of father and sons to the wilderness and tries to counsel them and work out differences. The father and son from the police unit, come up with the idea that they must go undercover in order to get close to the lawyer so he could confess information about the biker gang.
In the program out in the forest, there were a few exercises that the group had to do to share how they really felt. One of them was to pick out a toy that reminded them about the other. The Father who is a cop, picked out a barbie doll because he felt that the barbie doll best described his son. He said that he is just like a girl, with his sensitivity, whining, need for attention, and other "famine" characteristics. This is when I first noticed that this film expressed masculinity and its roles. According to this film, a man has to know his gender role. He has to be tough, not sensitive, like sports, drink beer, and be independent. We all know that these things are not true. All men have feelings and the way this movie portray men is false but they do it in a humorous way, which I liked because I feel like it was a way to tell the audience to obviously not take those ideas seriously.
The lawyer's character displayed the most masculine role. He was the rough and tough person who did not like those who were men that were sensitive and did not display manly characteristics. He did not want to talk about his feelings and emotions nor did he want to hear about them. He was really annoyed with the father and son couple that loved each other so much and talked about their emotion. The only time the lawyer was having fun and had a smile on his face was when he was involved an a "manly" sport. An example of this is when they did the mud wrestling exercise. He was yelling and cheering and looked like he was having a good time. Another time was when they went hunting for food. He was excited about the idea and enjoyed the hunt. When it came down to talking and actually sharing each others feelings. The lawyer remained quite and uncomfortable. He was too much of a man to talk about "sissy" stuff.
As we all know the ideas and characteristics that were portrayed in this movie are a myth. We all have feelings and can express emotion. Sometimes its good to talk things out and express how we feel. We as men always do. It does not mean we are less then a man if we do. I feel that although the movie displayed these ideas, they did it in a way to make the audience laugh because truly, that belief is ridiculous. This movie made me laugh and was very entertaining.
Showing posts with label Masculinity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Masculinity. Show all posts
Friday, June 4, 2010
SIFF " Father and Guns"
I just got back from viewing "Father and Gun" and this movie also displayed a lot of masculinity characteristics. The movie was about a father and son who are on the police force in a special unit. They were on a mission trying to capture a biker gang. During their sting operation, the son's best friend who is also on the special force unit, gets kidnapped. The father and son do not know of the best friend's where abouts. The only person who would know would be the biker gangs defense lawyer. Mean while the lawyer is having family problems and his son hates him. It came to the lawyer's wife's realization that the lawyer and his son need a special retreat so they could bond and solve their problems. So they end up going through with a program that takes a group of father and sons to the wilderness and tries to counsel them and work out differences. The father and son from the police unit, come up with the idea that they must go undercover in order to get close to the lawyer so he could confess information about the biker gang.
In the program out in the forest, there were a few exercises that the group had to do to share how they really felt. One of them was to pick out a toy that reminded them about the other. The Father who is a cop, picked out a barbie doll because he felt that the barbie doll best described his son. He said that he is just like a girl, with his sensitivity, whining, need for attention, and other "famine" characteristics. This is when I first noticed that this film expressed masculinity and its roles. According to this film, a man has to know his gender role. He has to be tough, not sensitive, like sports, drink beer, and be independent. We all know that these things are not true. All men have feelings and the way this movie portray men is false but they do it in a humorous way, which I liked because I feel like it was a way to tell the audience to obviously not take those ideas seriously.
The lawyer's character displayed the most masculine role. He was the rough and tough person who did not like those who were men that were sensitive and did not display manly characteristics. He did not want to talk about his feelings and emotions nor did he want to hear about them. He was really annoyed with the father and son couple that loved each other so much and talked about their emotion. The only time the lawyer was having fun and had a smile on his face was when he was involved an a "manly" sport. An example of this is when they did the mud wrestling exercise. He was yelling and cheering and looked like he was having a good time. Another time was when they went hunting for food. He was excited about the idea and enjoyed the hunt. When it came down to talking and actually sharing each others feelings. The lawyer remained quite and uncomfortable. He was too much of a man to talk about "sissy" stuff.
As we all know the ideas and characteristics that were portrayed in this movie are a myth. We all have feelings and can express emotion. Sometimes its good to talk things out and express how we feel. We as men always do. It does not mean we are less then a man if we do. I feel that although the movie displayed these ideas, they did it in a way to make the audience laugh because truly, that belief is ridiculous. This movie made me laugh and was very entertaining.
In the program out in the forest, there were a few exercises that the group had to do to share how they really felt. One of them was to pick out a toy that reminded them about the other. The Father who is a cop, picked out a barbie doll because he felt that the barbie doll best described his son. He said that he is just like a girl, with his sensitivity, whining, need for attention, and other "famine" characteristics. This is when I first noticed that this film expressed masculinity and its roles. According to this film, a man has to know his gender role. He has to be tough, not sensitive, like sports, drink beer, and be independent. We all know that these things are not true. All men have feelings and the way this movie portray men is false but they do it in a humorous way, which I liked because I feel like it was a way to tell the audience to obviously not take those ideas seriously.
The lawyer's character displayed the most masculine role. He was the rough and tough person who did not like those who were men that were sensitive and did not display manly characteristics. He did not want to talk about his feelings and emotions nor did he want to hear about them. He was really annoyed with the father and son couple that loved each other so much and talked about their emotion. The only time the lawyer was having fun and had a smile on his face was when he was involved an a "manly" sport. An example of this is when they did the mud wrestling exercise. He was yelling and cheering and looked like he was having a good time. Another time was when they went hunting for food. He was excited about the idea and enjoyed the hunt. When it came down to talking and actually sharing each others feelings. The lawyer remained quite and uncomfortable. He was too much of a man to talk about "sissy" stuff.
As we all know the ideas and characteristics that were portrayed in this movie are a myth. We all have feelings and can express emotion. Sometimes its good to talk things out and express how we feel. We as men always do. It does not mean we are less then a man if we do. I feel that although the movie displayed these ideas, they did it in a way to make the audience laugh because truly, that belief is ridiculous. This movie made me laugh and was very entertaining.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
SIFF " Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"
The SIFF movie "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" was an entertaining piece that displayed Masculinity throughout. The movie was about a Singer from a rock band. The film was about his life as a rock star, from how he got started to late stages of his band. There were times when they would show clips of his childhood that would relate to his current events. The main character was a married man when he began his band. He had two children, a boy and a girl. The movie showed the early struggles of a band by displaying stress, and hardship from trying to book gigs. Later the band started to get acknowledged and they slowly began to become a hit band. After one of the big concerts, The main character encounters two things. He has an altercation with his drummer.The drummer quits on him or at least he makes an effort because before he could finish his sentence, the main character "the lead singer" fires him. Soon after that he meets a groupie that he ends up dating. He also meets a young man who replaces the drummer. This was the starting point of the band becoming big. Parallel to their rising in stardom, acts occurred that many would think as a negative portrayal. The main character ends up buying a separate place, different from his family's,and ends up moving in with his mistress and is guilty of adultery. This later results into the wife asking for a divorce. During his experience in the rock scene, the main character has his son go along with him on tour and has his son experience everything that he does on in the rock world. When the son began to have a major role in the film, he was portrayed as dorky and a loser. He was picked on at school and was very awkward with people. By the end of the movie, he was a cool cat. Did i mention that the character was disabled and needs a prosthetic leg? Something I liked about the film was that the director did not immediately identify that the character had a disability. Everything went on as normal and it was up to the viewer to notice that the main character had only one strong leg.
The reason why I wanted to talk about masculinity in this movie is because in every scene, every piece, there was masculinity. So much that the women were only on screen as an idea of objectification. This film does not even pass the Bechtel test, where the women does not have conversation that does not involve a man. The characters on the film displayed characteristics that would be described my social norm as "Manly" things. Such as smoking, swearing, drug use, being a womanizer, and the strive for success. In the main character's married life, he was the man of the house. He was the one that made the decisions, and the wife was the one that cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. The gender roles were easily identified during the marriage scenes. Once the son was able to travel around with the dad through the rock band experience, the film expressed how masculinity could change a child from being a loser to a rock star. As mentioned before, The kid was every awkward at first. The kid was heavily influenced by all the masculinity, that he began to change his hair to more of a punk look, clothes that were tore up and cut off, he swore and did not even go to school at times, which was to show he had become a rebel. The daughter in the film was only shown a couple of times and when she was, she was with her mother and was very quit and proper. The transformation of the child turning into a macho man took a halt when he took some drugs and nearly died. Displaying scenes like that make me think of manly experiences.
This film was good to watch, I laughed, and was interested throughout the film. It was clear that the film wanted to glorify "man" by displaying many characteristics of a manly man and ommitting women for the most part. Through this film the director was able to tie in a plot and picture that was creative which set him apart from mainstream film which I was glad I had an opportunity to witness.
The reason why I wanted to talk about masculinity in this movie is because in every scene, every piece, there was masculinity. So much that the women were only on screen as an idea of objectification. This film does not even pass the Bechtel test, where the women does not have conversation that does not involve a man. The characters on the film displayed characteristics that would be described my social norm as "Manly" things. Such as smoking, swearing, drug use, being a womanizer, and the strive for success. In the main character's married life, he was the man of the house. He was the one that made the decisions, and the wife was the one that cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. The gender roles were easily identified during the marriage scenes. Once the son was able to travel around with the dad through the rock band experience, the film expressed how masculinity could change a child from being a loser to a rock star. As mentioned before, The kid was every awkward at first. The kid was heavily influenced by all the masculinity, that he began to change his hair to more of a punk look, clothes that were tore up and cut off, he swore and did not even go to school at times, which was to show he had become a rebel. The daughter in the film was only shown a couple of times and when she was, she was with her mother and was very quit and proper. The transformation of the child turning into a macho man took a halt when he took some drugs and nearly died. Displaying scenes like that make me think of manly experiences.
This film was good to watch, I laughed, and was interested throughout the film. It was clear that the film wanted to glorify "man" by displaying many characteristics of a manly man and ommitting women for the most part. Through this film the director was able to tie in a plot and picture that was creative which set him apart from mainstream film which I was glad I had an opportunity to witness.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Stone Cold Sports
Da'Sean Butler is a senior Forward playing in what ends up being his last college game at West Virgina. Throughout the season he is known for being the leader of his team with tremendous basketball skills. West Virgina is down late in the game, and the winner advances to the national championship. The person who people count on to lead West Virginia back into the game and perhaps a victory is Da'Sean Butler. This player accepts the pressure and has all the confidence in the world in his ability but in one second, everything that has to do with basketball is stripped away.
While on the ground crying in pain, his coach Bob Huggins sits next to Da'Sean's side to comfort him. As soon as the coach does this, the commentators make a huge deal about it. One commentator goes as far to say he has never seen this in a live game in all of his years as a sports broadcaster. Later that evening the big highlight on Sportscenter and other news channels was the clip of the coach comforting the player. Why is that such a big deal? Is it not human nature to care when a person gets hurt, especially when he is close to you. I guess its not male make thing to do or at least displaying emotion does not belong in sports.
I find it humourous and a bit sad to hear social media react to this incedent the way they did. It makes me realize that situations such as this one is not a social norm. In sports, in this case basketball, society has a certain view of masculinity towrads males. They are depicted as rough, tough, unemotional objects, that are there just to entertain. As if they are not even human. Any human would have the urge to provide comfort when the person they care about needs comforting. Especially taking into consideration that this coach has worked with Da'Sean for a few years, developing a special bond. Furthermore, anyone that knows about collegiate sports understands that the coach becomes a parent while the plaer is away from home. When Da'Sean Butler went down and began to cry in pain, Coach Bob Huggins approached him as a father would to a son. It seems that society believes sports shouldn't have that much depth in feelings, or any feelings at all.
Carlos S
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