In film, masculinity is a trait expressed in several ways depending on the role of the character addressed. Characters are typical split into two groups - positive and negative (i.e. the hero and the villain, good guy, bad guy etc.) and show different traits:
Positive Character Attributes:
Values friendships: Displays loyalty and places importance on friendships and important relationships.
Chivalry: A strong character trait toward the defense of women/children.
Wise: Primary characteristic are thoughtfulness, displays and demonstrates strong ethics.
Has integrity: Believes in doing what is right, even at great personal risk.
Noteworthy intelligence: Is well versed, well read, highly educated, and places importance on intellection.
Negative Character Attributes:
Aggressive/violent: Performs acts of aggression, confrontation, or violence as a common practice.
Sociopathic: Has low regard for human life, property, humanity, and shows little emotion.
Dull-witted/stupid/easily led: Is distinguished by his poor decisions, immaturity, shortsightedness, or dependence on others
Scoundrel: Is primarily dishonest, steals, cheats, and looks out for himself first.
Is isolated: Does not have and/or friends and stays to himself throughout the film.
Based on personal bias I'd like to think that masculinity is best expressed through traits of aggression and stupidity but recent films have deviated from such stereotypes for male characters.
A recent study took the top 100 male film characters of all time that included the likes of Marty McFly, The Joker and Indiana Jones. They then identified the top three attributes of each character based on the list provided above. This gave a rather good representation of how male characters are depicted in film overall. The study shows that most of the male characters had both negative and positive attributes which shattered the seemingly definitive divide between good and bad characters.
This study also contrasted my personal bias of aggression and stupidity being the most popular attributes of a male character. To my surprise, it was actually the least popular representation of male characters in film - we rarely have characters that are blatantly dumb and aggressive. In fact, aggression was a pretty low rated trait when in comes to the depiction of masculinity in male characters. This comes as surprise as we are generally taught that males are typical more aggressive, not only in film, but in real life situations compared to the female counterparts.
Contrary to popular belief - a typical male character has integrity and is isolated. Lets take a look into these two characteristics:
Integrity -
Characters such as Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones and Rocky Balboa possess integrity. As a result, they appeal to us on a human level purely because they are characters that we grow to trust. This is important in film as heroes typically need to have a strong sense of honesty, honour and trustworthiness for this appeal to work.
Integrity works for a male character because it sells them well. When a sense of responsibility and power lies within a character who is honest and trustworthy people are more drawn to it compared to the polar opposite.
Isolation -
In contrast to integrity, isolation is another popular trait with male characters such as The Terminator, James Bond and Bruce Wayne. What makes a character interesting within the film is an apparent flaw - isolation seems to be a popular flaw represented among strong male lead characters.
Of course, the above information is very generalised and only provides an overview of how men are typically represented in film. It may not apply to all characters across the film industry (I'd be very worried if it did) but it should suffice as the 'tip of the iceberg' in the quite controversial issue of masculinity.
Positive Character Attributes:
Values friendships: Displays loyalty and places importance on friendships and important relationships.
Chivalry: A strong character trait toward the defense of women/children.
Wise: Primary characteristic are thoughtfulness, displays and demonstrates strong ethics.
Has integrity: Believes in doing what is right, even at great personal risk.
Noteworthy intelligence: Is well versed, well read, highly educated, and places importance on intellection.
Negative Character Attributes:
Aggressive/violent: Performs acts of aggression, confrontation, or violence as a common practice.
Sociopathic: Has low regard for human life, property, humanity, and shows little emotion.
Dull-witted/stupid/easily led: Is distinguished by his poor decisions, immaturity, shortsightedness, or dependence on others
Scoundrel: Is primarily dishonest, steals, cheats, and looks out for himself first.
Is isolated: Does not have and/or friends and stays to himself throughout the film.
Based on personal bias I'd like to think that masculinity is best expressed through traits of aggression and stupidity but recent films have deviated from such stereotypes for male characters.
A recent study took the top 100 male film characters of all time that included the likes of Marty McFly, The Joker and Indiana Jones. They then identified the top three attributes of each character based on the list provided above. This gave a rather good representation of how male characters are depicted in film overall. The study shows that most of the male characters had both negative and positive attributes which shattered the seemingly definitive divide between good and bad characters.
This study also contrasted my personal bias of aggression and stupidity being the most popular attributes of a male character. To my surprise, it was actually the least popular representation of male characters in film - we rarely have characters that are blatantly dumb and aggressive. In fact, aggression was a pretty low rated trait when in comes to the depiction of masculinity in male characters. This comes as surprise as we are generally taught that males are typical more aggressive, not only in film, but in real life situations compared to the female counterparts.
Contrary to popular belief - a typical male character has integrity and is isolated. Lets take a look into these two characteristics:
Integrity -
Characters such as Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones and Rocky Balboa possess integrity. As a result, they appeal to us on a human level purely because they are characters that we grow to trust. This is important in film as heroes typically need to have a strong sense of honesty, honour and trustworthiness for this appeal to work.
Integrity works for a male character because it sells them well. When a sense of responsibility and power lies within a character who is honest and trustworthy people are more drawn to it compared to the polar opposite.
Isolation -
In contrast to integrity, isolation is another popular trait with male characters such as The Terminator, James Bond and Bruce Wayne. What makes a character interesting within the film is an apparent flaw - isolation seems to be a popular flaw represented among strong male lead characters.
Of course, the above information is very generalised and only provides an overview of how men are typically represented in film. It may not apply to all characters across the film industry (I'd be very worried if it did) but it should suffice as the 'tip of the iceberg' in the quite controversial issue of masculinity.
Case Study: Fight Club
David Fincher's 1999 American Drama 'Fight Club' addresses real world issue of emasculation via the consumer crazed story arch of the narrator (played by both Edward Norton and Brad Pitt). Consumerism has been one of the underlying themes that contribute to this modern crisis along with other controversial issues such as condemned violence, they only way to escape this seems to be through the act and glorification of cathartic violence which is what Fight Club is typically known for by a general audience. This glorification of violence acts as a masculine identity for the average man after being trapped in a world of commerce and shopping while they were in fact 'designed to be hunters'.
A popular representation of a man seems to be represented as well groomed and fashion conscious in today's age. However, no matter how much a man's representation is neutered we still possess natural instincts that are competitive, aggressive and sexual. These instincts are almost impossible to tame and are the very ones that Fight Club express and instigate to the audience. You could say that Tyler Durden's character is an embodiment of all these traits in hopes of bringing to light the anomalous nature of masculinity in modern society.
Of course there are many different depictions and ideas of what Fight Club is trying to address. People comment that Fight Club does not target the lone theme of masculinity and that it is not the main theme of the film - it's about justice and complete rejection of conformity. Others comment that it's more about anarcho-primitivism as the film constantly talks about not relying on technology and modern advancement but instead bringing civilisation back to its roots.
http://2013.neutralmagazine.com/article/fight-club-and-masculinity/
A popular representation of a man seems to be represented as well groomed and fashion conscious in today's age. However, no matter how much a man's representation is neutered we still possess natural instincts that are competitive, aggressive and sexual. These instincts are almost impossible to tame and are the very ones that Fight Club express and instigate to the audience. You could say that Tyler Durden's character is an embodiment of all these traits in hopes of bringing to light the anomalous nature of masculinity in modern society.
Of course there are many different depictions and ideas of what Fight Club is trying to address. People comment that Fight Club does not target the lone theme of masculinity and that it is not the main theme of the film - it's about justice and complete rejection of conformity. Others comment that it's more about anarcho-primitivism as the film constantly talks about not relying on technology and modern advancement but instead bringing civilisation back to its roots.
http://2013.neutralmagazine.com/article/fight-club-and-masculinity/