John Woo: from Hong Kong to Hollywood, The Killer and Face-Off

The film “Tough Guise 2- Violence, Manhood & American Culture”, from the onset inundated my concepts, notions, and ideals concerning males and violence with a jolt of realism as well as reflection. This film made me observe more closely the relationship between media and violence when viewed under the lenses of proper sociological discourse. Ours is a patriarchal society. As such, this affords a greater understanding as to the portrayal of violence with and against males. Furthermore, the escalation of violence has a direct correlation between images in the popular media as well as ideological concepts on gender roles, violence, and masculinity perpetuated as mores of society. Jackson Katz film argues that the epidemic of male violence in America is ingrained in our incapacity in society to transcend patriarchy and the ideological misconceptions that this permeates.

Asians have been invisible in Hollywood lead roles. There have been many situations where another race has played an Asian role. When Asians do land a lead role it is very common to see pay difference between other ethnicity lead roles. Asian’s are very fimilar with service roles and not lead roles in films. Asian actors are still only a one percent of Hollywood’s leading roles. “According to a study that University of California, Los Angeles did out of the top 100 films in 2015, 49 of those films did not consist an Asian character and zero leading roles went to Asians (Levin 2017).” Asians seem be invisible when auditioning for lead roles.

The issue at the heart of the David Fincher film, Fight Club, is not that of man’s rebellion against a society of “men raised by women”. This is a film that outwardly exhibits itself as promoting the resurrection of the ‘ultra-male’, surreptitiously holding women accountable for the decay of manhood. However, the underlying truth of the film is not of resisting the force of destruction that is ‘woman’, or of resisting the corruption of manhood at her hand, but of penetrating the apathy needed to survive in an environment ruled by commercial desire, not need. In reality, Fight Club is a careful examination, through parody, of what it means to be a man; carefully examining the role of women in a society busy rushing towards sexual

David Fincher’s film, Fight Club (1999), puts the internal struggles for meaning that heterosexual white men experience within today’s society into motion. Charles Guignon examines the film’s violent and sexual factors as well as how they pose a meaningful appeal to violence, primarily, in the young men of our society. Moreover, the film “stirs up a fascination with violence that many of us may feel, an attraction to inflicting pain and experiencing pain ourselves (35).” Through concepts of absent fathers, consumerism and an aimless being, Fight Club platforms a provocative view on how men in modern society have lost their identity through emasculation and the extremely disturbing activities they combat in order to find it again. Fight Club asserts the path to finding one’s meaning is not simple and, in turn, develops into a despairing and inconclusive struggle. The excessive consumerism in the film signifies a sign of emotional emptiness. The film provides the viewer extensive knowledge on contemporary American society by raising important questions about the embraced values in that society. With the struggle for finding meaning and the prevalent masculine identity crisis manifested in Fight Club, why do some men’s daily lives fail to satisfy them in contemporary society? And correspondingly, how is the main character, Edward Norton, truly “nameless?”

When a man fails to live up to other’s expectations of being a “real man,” he is diminished and criticized for being a “woman.” Thus, starting at young ages, boys are fall into the misleading idea that respect is acquired by force. In fact, younger boys look up to men who display uncontrollable rage because these men evoke fear to those around them. Boys are taught that fear is equivalent to respect, and society’s perception of belligerent men only fuels their drive for violence. The phenomenon of posing - creating a false depiction of what men are truly feeling - showcases that this widespread performance of masculinity does not just stem from the media. The explanation of this projection of masculinity is oversimplified, and identified as cause and effect relationships between imitative violent acts from video games and movies. However, the actual truth is that the problem does not only lie in these few few places. It is everywhere, embedded deeply in

The beast inside of me unleashes as I fire every bullet at that last person with my absolute rage. The rage I've been wanting to unlock for all these years. The bodies drenched in blood of innocent lives are my spur, the spur to fulfilling my revenge, the vengeance that I was wanting to rip apart from that day.

George Stevens' 1953 film Shane is notable for a number of reasons, from its grand cinematography to its ambiguous ending, but perhaps the most striking thing about the film is its treatment of violence. In particular, the film uses the story of the mysterious gunfighter Shane to chart the gradual irrelevance of this kind of violence in the aftermath of the Civil War, and in some ways one can imagine that the film itself is attempting to recover from the violence of World War II. By examining some key moments from the film, one is able to see how Shane uses its sometimes graphic violence in an effort to simultaneously show the ostensible utility and ultimate futility of violence. In the end, Shane undermines classic western film tropes in order to turn the image of the heroic gunfighter into a frightening warning about the lingering effects of senseless violence.

“Tough Guise” examines the relationship between the social construction of masculinity and the images we see in mass media and popular culture. The central theme in Katz’s arguments in Tough Guise revolves around the notion: violence in America is a gendered associated phenomenon, and in order for us to understand violence, we must focus on its relationship to our

So often men are portrayed as ruling the top of the social system, but often the only men who benefit from the patriarchal system are men who fulfil every expectation of masculinity. Men who don’t fit this can suffer much scrutiny from others. “The concept of hegemonic masculinity does not equate to a model of social reproduction; we need to recognise social struggles in which subordinated masculinities influence dominant forms.” -R. W. Connell, University of Sydney, Australia. I am applying this masculine lens to Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del

Violence is too often linked to masculine identity and is not considered to be a form of deviance. The mainstream media continues to hold a monopoly on what it means to be a “real man.” The mainstream media also associates masculinity with aggression, violence, a need for power and control, and the need for respect. Fear is not put inside the masculine box of characteristics and either is emotional display. The ability to maintain a stoic personality is valued as well as the ability and readiness to defend oneself.

As fascinating as Serial Murder is to society, the research of the patterns and behavior of serial killers gives valuable insight to the future actions and patterns of these individuals, which can be used as a skeleton for investigation into an individual. From early childhood to late adulthood, humans are constantly developing and adapting to the stimuli presented to an individual. This causes the consistently dynamic persona humans are characterized by. Nonetheless, it is compelling to assume that the heinous acts of those who murder repeatedly are inspired not by an individual’s environment, but rather by a disposition at birth. This assumption is one that is well discussed, but not well researched for the sole fact that it is a difficult topic to study empirically. Thus, the analysis of the actions of serial murderers is all but conclusive as the studies regarding this topic are colluded at best; further collusion is caused by the fact that much of the data presented is contradictory to opposing reviewed studies. This creates no conclusive verdict on the matter and urges the further research of the psychology of serial murderers.

Introduction: Is a real man a tough guy? One who doesn't show any emotion or weakness? One who is loud, boisterous and picks fights? One who talks highly about himself and puts others down? Or is he the strong, silent type who keeps to himself all the time? The traditional role of a man since men carried clubs and lived in caves has been the breadwinner, protector and defender. However, this traditional ideal of the male has eroded in the 21st century. A popular culture which contributed to the fixed idea about the macho man, particularly in the past century, is no longer as significant. Also, a prolonged global conflict which has cemented these stereotypes

Comic books have picked up popularity as a method for scholars to gain insight as to how society confronts problems. The purpose of my research is to investigate the masculinity of the vigilante and how it hinges on their use of violence and sexuality. The three heroes I will analyze Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, and Nite Owl. Each portrays their masculinity through sexuality and violence differently. To accurately understand the concepts aforementioned, it is imperative the reader look to the gutter of the comic. The gutter as defined by Scott McCloud is when the “Human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea” (McCloud 66). In his chapter “blood in the gutter” McCloud explains, violence often happens inside the gutter to protect reader’s sensibility. However, violence is not the only thing that happens in the gutter, anything deemed perhaps too risqué also happens in the gutter. Therefore, much of the character’s sexuality will also take place in the gutter. Readers must use their imagination to create closure from the gaps that the gutter leaves. When the gutter is taken into consideration most of what defines a hero’s masculinity takes place there.

In The Killer, there are two ways that Woo expresses gloomy and painful male, one has mentioned in previous content, which is physical pain that audience can directly feel it, for example, Sydney beaten by Weng and Weng's gangsters. Another is inner pain which focusing on emotion sadness. For instance, Lee is a dedicated police and he recognised hidden criminal on a bus, so Lee killed that criminal decidedly when a woman catches as a hostage. However, that hostage dead for shock and Lee complained by hostage’s families and investigate for criminal responsibility because he didn’t warning hostage before he shot and that hostage has heart disease. It is unconscionable because he knows the criminal has homicidal tendencies, and the hostage may

How does John Woo produce remasculinisation of male hero by combine traditional Chinese value of true man and western technique of expression in The Killer? 'Doing' genre that Woo used in The Killer also accord with wu, which is one of binary features of traditional Chinese masculinity. Wu represent moral principle of Chinese hero, and one major element of wu is loyalty (Louie, 2009, p.10). In The Killer, the scene from 87'' to 92'' shows how Sydney loyal to Jeff by keep his promise to get Jeff's money back from Weng. In this scene, director used montage editing style to combine Jeff's idea of true friend and Sydney's action in order to complete Sydney's masculinity in terms of loyalty. For example, Sydney required Jeff's money after he walked