Thelma and Louise

Masculinity in Cinema

Brad Pitt as the epitome of masculinity

Presentation of the male body

Stripped and fetishised

Portrayed as a toyboy

Objectified

Not established as a character with depth, but rather as a typical pin-up boy

When Brad Pitt's character is in the hotel room with Thelma, the camera focuses on his sculpted figure, basically ignoring Thelma in the whole intimate scene. Pitt typifies a sort of un-realistic masculine ideal, which is especially contrasted by the hitch hiker robber character he actually plays. The fact of the matter is, that Pitt probably went on a carb depletion diet for a couple days before filming these scenes, and thus cinema is setting up un-realistic representations of the male figure. Pitt in Thelma and Louise creates a masculine ideal, to which the female version had already been greatly defined in film.

Perhaps these representations of the masculine ideal had been shown in earlier films, and they may have just been less obvious than there female counter part representations.