Film reflection - Assignment Example

Film Reflection: Tough Guise 2 The film, Tough Guise 2, presents an in-depth assessment of the male gender (masculinity) revealing the stoicism and readiness for violence in most men. The film depicts numerous cultural transformations in the previous decades that have lead to escalating domestic violence, rape and indiscriminate murders in the contemporary society. Violence, as revealed in the film, is not inborn in men and that men are not intrinsically violent. As men grow up, they get introduced to agents of violence such as violent video games and films, which influence the way they behave.

Basically, a mask is usually used to conceal the true identity of a person, especially when the person has the intention of behaving in an unacceptable way. Men are depicted wearing mask of violence, which is a disguise of who they really are. It is the fear of being described as weak that makes men disguise in violence so that they can expose their masculinity to others. Boys never desire to be branded unmanly and so must display their masculinity via violence, which is often perpetuated by media images.

Kimmel reveals that “the fear of being seen as a sissy dominates the cultural definition of manhood” (150). According to the author, a boy might have to engage in physical fight in order to dispel the idea that he is a sissy. Kimmel further argues that “violence is the single most marker of manhood” (150). As such, the media can be linked with increased violence that has plagued the modern society where men strive to prove their manhood by hiding behind the mask of violence. The film Tough Guise 2 is thus a perfect platform for understanding why many males are violent.

Work CitedKimmel, Michael S. 1994. Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity,” in Theorizing Masculinities, ed. H. Brod (Thousand Oaks, CA), pp. 119-141.