Masculinity In Malboro Man

In Paul Theroux’s article “The Male Myth” Theroux makes a point that he does not like the stereotypes placed on men in today’s society. Theroux’s article is focused on exposing the stereotypes that men face and the reasons for their occurrence. He claims that writers and many others are directly affected by the expectations of masculinity that are thoroughly incorporated in America. The ideas of masculinity are deeply rooted in high school sports, in the view of the president, and in many other areas. Theroux attempts to prove that being a man in American is, “…pitiful, a little like having to wear an ill-fitting coat for one’s entire life.”

When defining the term ‘manhood’, many people may use terms such as courage, strength, or bravery. Throughout history there have been many pressures on men to be as stereotypically manly as possible. If men don’t conform to those stereotypes, they may be looked down upon by society as a whole. Richard Van Camp’s short story ‘The Night Charles Bukowski Died’ is a prime example of the dangers of nonconformity to stereotypically manly traits. The story is an intense first person stream of consciousness from the point of view of an unnamed narrator that follows the narrator and three of his peers: Mikey, Jason, and Scott. The use of metaphor, point of view, and setting in “The Night Charles Bukowski Died” exposes how stereotypical expectations of manhood can lead to dangerous situations not only physically, but also socially and emotionally.

More than ever, the male can express more liberalism through their physical appearance. Even the closely related “new man” of the nineties was constricted in garment choices: “The clothes worn by the models are assertively masculine and often emphasize a broad-shouldered and solid body shape” (Nixon 314). Much unlike those of Suistudio, the models used were portrayed in a masculine manner by the clothes they wore and not by their bodies themselves. Although the earlier was intended to combat the over-sexualization of women in advertisements, the men used are still the prime candidates of today’s masculinity. Today, along with women, men are

Lucas presents the reflection of masculinity in the Australian cinemas by drawing example from “The Man from Snowy River (I) “, where she analyzes the conventional masculinity by narrating the development of the male character in the movie characterized as young Jom Criag (Tom Burlinson) who has to inherits knowledge and strengths from his father. During his journey to manhood after his father’s death, he meets another man through whom he learns survival skills, develop friendship, win over his rebel and proclaim heroic status. Lucas promulgates through her analysis that this movie reflects the dominant and hegemonic masculinity by presenting that a masculine figure needs to adapt, be physically strong, and be determinant of his aspirations (Lucas page 140)

Theroux, P. “Being a Man” English 102 Reader. Bedford/St. Martin’s. Boston, 2013 pages. 358-361. Print

“The Mask You Live In,” the 2015 documentary produced by Jennifer Siebel Newson was made to inform it’s audience which are boy and girls from aged 10 to adults that the social expectations which contemporary society sets upon males through popular culture, sports and media is very harmful. This message is not only important for the males who are negatievly impacted by the “man box” however it is harmful for everyone else in their lives as they are impacted directly. This film hopes to shed light to an issue that has been around since the militarization of civilizations when women became inferior to their male counterparts and patriarchy became the dominant approach to social norms. Through the film, we’re able to understand the term of the “manbox.” This term is societies’s rules for acting like a man; the mentality behaviours and restrictions that men and boys are socialy constructed to such as being strong, athletic, providing, aggressive and unemotional.

Jenifer Siebel Newsom’s documentary, The Mask You Live In, is about the struggles young men and boys face while they are figuring out their identity in a stereotyped America. The film highlights the negative psychological and sociological implications that stem from society’s expectations of “masculinity.” According to Dr. Caroline Heldman, masculinity is defined in the U.S. as a rejection of everything feminine. American culture has classified masculinity as a strong, hardened, domineering, powerful, and controlling state of being. There are typically three lies that boys learn at a young age that plant the idea that they have to be masculine. Those lies are 1) You must have superb athletic ability and be fast and buff, 2) in order to be a “true” man, you must have

Starting in the 19th century, men had an increasing pressure to prove their masculinity. In order to support themselves and their families, American men’s desire to prove masculinity came at the cost of minorities, women, and even man’s own personal happiness. This restlessness of being a

Masculinity, as developed in the dime novel, has provided a model for modernism by reforming the social world in terms of both literary and art form. This claim holds valid as representations of frontier masculinity with literary modernism’s representations will be reviewed. Within Western literature, gender and queer theory seems to not only reform manhood, but also challenges the tendency to read literary western masculinity as embodying patriarchy, and heteronormativity. Instead, many nineteenth-century writers use the frontier and its assertion of masculinity to protest masculinity by presenting it as performative, rather than being the physical characteristic of the male body.

Men face immense pressure to fill the masculine role they are supposed to play. As a child growing up, boys on the playground would be afraid to make a bad throw, shot, etc. while playing otherwise they’d risk being told they were “like a girl”. And if a boy fell on the playground and started to tear up, he would be told to “Shake it off” and “Be a man” by his classmates and teachers.

Magazine stands are full of men without their shirts showing off their six-pack” (Edwards, 2006, pg.1) this quote is exploring the idea of how body image of males influences masculinity. It is evident through the content analysis that the media with the use of advertisements has the ability to portray specific body images of men and is promoting the ideal body and as a result is contributing to the social construction of masculinity. Social norms and the social construction of masculinity can vary depending on ethnicity. This is because “there is diversity in how to be a man so the social construction of masculinity in different contexts”

The film starts with the narrator, Jackson Katz, underlining the extreme notion of masculinity that is presented in our everyday lives. Contrary to popular beliefs, masculinity is a projection that is put up by men and not a fixed state of being. The ‘tough guise’, defined by Katz as “the front that so many men put up that 's based on the extreme notions of masculinity that emphasizes toughness and physical strength and gaining the respect and admiration of others through violence or the implicit threat of it”, becomes the main issue that affects people who identify as male. When Katz brought up the meaning of a man, the film intercuts to scenes of interviewed teenagers who used words like ‘tough’, ‘independent’, ‘muscular’, ‘strong’, and ‘powerful’ to describe their ideas of a man. When asked to describe a man who does not conform to these standards, the teenagers used words like ‘wuss’, ‘sissy’, ‘weak’, ‘bitch’, and ‘fag’ instead. This scene truly underlines the widespread binary gender roles that are seen as common and universal among adolescents. In a sense, this influential

The author of this (short) piece discusses his conception of masculinity and argues against that of John Stoltenberg (author of “Refusing to be a man”).

In this story it primarily expresses what the idea of a man is, and how it that idea is extremely narrow and regularly unfair. To help reinforce this, the author Paul Theroux gives an example in his essay “Be a man!” strikes me as insulting and abusive. It means: Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly, and stop thinking.” (Theroux 1). That quote depicts Theroux’s view of what American society wants in men, and how it is exceedingly narrow and doesn’t give much room for anything else. Theroux is stating that that being a man means you have to follow one of these traits. One of those points leads us that men have a sense of being brash, cold hearted, loyal, warrior, and most importantly be tough. This sense of being tough is so dominate it allows for a constant pressure to up hold this in the public eye. Like Theroux, many men have to abide by these rules in order to within societal conformity. That means for males, they can only be seen as tough when it comes to everything.

But because neither Cooper nor Irving’s works should be distanced from their cultural backdrops when considering the socially reflective nature of their work, exploring basic historical conditions surrounding the changing concepts of masculinity can serve as a useful move.