o “Streetcar” named desire. One of the first films in the 50’s that had a blue collar hero.
o Starring Marlon Brando and Stanley Kowalski
o Projected a blue collar sexuality
o Very revolutionary for it’s time
American Gigolo:
o A seminal moment in the history of menswear, when you see Julian dressing for a date, in the 80’s
o Lots of gadgets
o Very clever product placement
o Body appearance and luxuriating the male body
o Revolutions around the male consumer
o Caused a stir, and up the sales of Armani
- Is this one of the first films to promote the male body, and male sexualisation?
- Is it true then that male sexualisation has come after the sexualisation of women and feminity, or are there previous examples of the male body as an object of desire?
- The changes in society around masculinity were beginning to be reflected in film.
- Film often represents significant cultural and societal elements
Brokeback Mountain:
o How far cinema has come
o Very slow opening sequence, with a slow build
o Post-Hollywood
o Franchise film around the male body
Masculinity:
o Representations of masculinity through cinema
o “Rambo”, “Rocky”, “Die Hard”, “Terminator”, “Lethal Weapon”
o ‘This here is a snakeskin jecket. It represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.’ Sailor Ripley (Nicholas Cage) in “Wild at Heart” (1990)
Laura Mulvey Essay-‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’:
o Written in 1975
o Re-negotiating the dominance of Classic Hollywood
o “According to the principles of the ruling ideology and the psychical structures that back it up, the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification. Main is reluctant…” (Mulvey)
Woman as image, man as bearer of the look:
Masculinity:
Activity
Voyeurism
Sadism
Fetishism
Story
Femininity:
Passivity
Exhibitionism
Masochism
Narcissism
Spectacle
o Women are a problem
o Men are tested in action
o First male pin-up was not butch or muscular-“Son of the Sheik” and “Young Rajah”
o Cary Grant in ‘North by Northwest’ (1959) Wore no less than 12 identical suits in the crop dusting scene
Flugel-‘Great Masculine Renunciation’:
o Since late 18th Century
o “Man abandoned his claim to be considered beautiful” (1930, p. 111)
o “modern man’s clothing abounds in features which symbolise his devotion to the principles of duty, of renunciation and self-control
o Hollander-‘Sex and Suits
o Craik, 1994 ‘The Face of Fashion’
1950’s:
o First questioning of gender roles
o Demographic changes: enormous numbers of young people
o Emergence of youth cultures
o Serious questioning of traditional gender identification
James Dean:
o ‘Rebel without a Cause’
o Dean was bi-sexual
o Characters he played were in touch with their feminine side
o First moment in a police station
o Vulnerable yet masculine
o Rebellious yet romantic
o Early metro
o ‘Giant’ poor boy from the wrong side of the track
o Sartorial aspect of James Dean characters is appealing to the early metro-sexual man
o Marlon Brando-‘Guys and Dolls’
o Montgomery Cliff
o 50’s the age of the chest
o Male torso fetishized
o Burt Lancaster in ‘From here to Eternity’ (1953) Blue collar sexuality
o Paul Newman ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’
o Alain Delon in ‘Plein Soleil’ (1960) First French film where the male body is fetishize
o Steve McQueen-Blue collar boy who became a movie star
o John Travolta in ‘Saturday Night Fever’ (1977)
o Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun’ (1986) About a love affair between men
o Homo-erotic sub text which gets stronger in the 80’s
Gangster Film and the Suit:
o “Vanity in a man […] came to signify evil degeneracy (the most obsessively…” (Bruzzi)
o ‘Goodfellas’ (1990)
o ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)
o ‘American Gangster’ (2007)
1980’s:
o ‘Menswear revolution’
o ‘Grooming’ products
o Men in ads and on billboards
o ‘homo-spectatorial gaze’ (D. Fuss, S. Nixon)
o ‘the new man’
o Men can look at other men without spectator
o Nick Kamen in Leiv’s 501 ad (1985)-increased sales by 200% The campaign that propelled the new man
o Legitimating consumption
o Changing gender roles had happened
o The rise of the metro-sexual
o Accustomed to the visualised to the male body
o ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ (2001) Oppositional duo
o ‘300’ (2007) A reaction to the new man
o Persians are the other in ‘300’
Bibliography:
o Bruzzi, S. ‘Fashioning Film Stars’
o Chapman, R. ‘The Great Male pretender: Variations of the New Man Theme’
o Craik, J. ‘The Face of Fashion’
o Flugel, J.C. ‘The Psychology of Clothes’
o Mulvey, L. ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’
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