Changes in the Masculine Identity - Essay Example

? Changes in the Masculine Identity in Hollywood Styled Romantic Comedies Table of Contents Introduction 3 Background 4 The Hierarchy of Knowledge 4 Challenging Equality Frameworks 6 Masculine Identities in Romantic Comedies 8 Integrity/Duplicity 8 The Male Stereotype 9 Attraction and Humour 11 Conclusion 12 Bibliography 14 Changes in the Masculine Identity in Hollywood Styled Romantic Comedies Introduction The masculine image in film has changed dramatically in the last one hundred years. While the nature of the female has also changed, the stereotype of the female in the romantic comedy has remained somewhat static. The male figure has changed dramatically, however, as the image of the modern male in relationship to love has gone from one that was mostly restrained and aloof, to one that is more emotional and often oblivious to the process of building romance within the film. Where males in older romantic comedies were portrayed as cool emotionally and in control of their environment, males in current and modern romantic comedies are more often highly flawed and emotionally vulnerable. The changing image of the male figure in romantic comedies has developed a less competent male figure that is at the mercy of the storyline, where in older films the male figure was far more commanding and in control of the events. Romantic comedies have been in film for as long as stories for film have been written. Grindon (2011, p. 12) calls the romantic comedy the “most enduring and flexible” of the film genres, its inclusion in the film releases of each year standard and expected. Grindon (2011, p. 3) describes the romantic comedy as “striv(ing) to excite sexual desire and mimic its pleasure mediated through the devices of cinematic storytelling and experienced as laughter”. The purpose of the romantic comedy is to allow the viewer to become immersed in the events of relationships, providing for a structure through which love evolves and an image of the types of people that have the privilege of love. The irony of the standard female image in romantic comedies has not changed at its core. She is competent, usually a career oriented woman, who is not looking for a relationship, but has been put into conflict with a man for reasons that are not related to creating a relationship. The male image has undergone a great deal of change in contrast to the female image, his position in building the relationship very different than one might have seen in the 1950s or 1960s. The following paper will explore the nature of the romantic comedy while developing a profile of both the stereotyped female and male, with a close look at the changes seen in the masculine identity throughout the history of film. The theory on the differentiation of the male and female identity is explored, as well as the ideas of the nature of male integrity in contrast with the duplicitous nature of the female. The relatively stagnant nature of the female lead stereotype in a romantic comedy is put into contrast with the evolution of the male identity in the romantic comedy genre. While there are few absolutes in any film genre as the idea is to try to create something unique, repetition of stereotypes keeps familiarity for the audiences, while commenting on the relationships of the genders. In this relatively unique instance, the nature of the stereotypes for the male figure in a genre has gone through radical changes, leaving the male identity in these films as something very different than it was when the industry of film began. Background The Hierarchy of Knowledge One of the elements of the romantic comedy structure is that of the hierarchy of knowledge. A standard in romantic comedies is that either the male or the female has the privilege of the hierarchy of knowledge, knowing more about what is transpiring than the other. Typically it is the female in the film who has the advantage of knowledge. The male can be seen as the victim of circumstances that he has less control over. McDonald (2007, p. 22) uses the film Sunday in New York (1963) as an example in which the male figure, Mike played by Rod Taylor, is unaware that his girlfriend Eileen, played by Jane Fonda, is a virgin and no longer wishes to be a virgin. He is known for his sexual exploits so the conflict arises between her status and his lack of knowledge of that status as a virgin (IMDB 2012). The film The Major and the Minor (1942) with Ray Milland and Ginger Rogers uses the hierarchy of knowledge similarly as Ray Milland ends up on a train where Ginger Rogers has dressed as a young girl in order to get a cheaper train ticket (IMDB 2012). While Rogers understands the truth about her situation, her burgeoning love for Milland’s character cannot be resolved until she reveals that she is not a little girl. Rogers is a competent, working girl in the city whose street smarts allows her an unconventional solution to the problem of not having enough money for her train ticket. This is an example of the average female lead in most romantic comedies as well as the plot device of an unconventional solution which places the female lead in the path of the romantic male lead. What the hierarchy of knowledge provides, however, is a male lead that is oblivious to the details of the events as they go on around him. In older films, the male lead is usually culturally controlled for his emotions with formalized behaviours and masculinity that is defined by his control of his environment. The male lead is defined through love that comes from that control being diverted through the devices of a career woman. In older films, the position of the female as a career woman or a working woman may be metaphorically placed as a ‘fish out of water’ because she enters into events that are absurd or unconventional, suggesting that she is not at home in the position of a career woman. The solutions to her problems are found through the relationship that is developed with the lead character, suggesting that it is through the development of her domestic side that she is made complete (Glitre 2006, p. 91). This did not end with the development of the sexual revolution and civil rights for women. The film Working Girl (1988) attempts to break this stereotype, but fails because her emotional and physical relationship with the lead character provides for a continued solution to her absurd position (IMDB 2012). Although the film tries to show a woman who an assistant is that has the knowledge to work on a higher level within her corporate organization, what is actually shown is a woman who needs the advantages of a relationship in order to be complete at that level. Challenging Equality Frameworks The apparent aim of the Hollywood stereotype of the career woman is to determine that she is equal to her male counterpart, but the actual metaphoric exploration is to determine that woman are not content until they have defined themselves domestically. In understanding the nature of male change in romantic comedy, it must be discussed in terms of how the films aim at equality while still supporting the misogynistic perspective. According to Glitre (2006, p. 91) “Most critics have understood the career woman’s final acceptance of more conventional femininity as reactionary”. Even in teen based films that can be defined as romantic comedy, the same type of transformation from independent woman to emotionally dependent domestic female can be observed. In the film Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), the oblivious male finally sees the light and falls in love with his tomboyish girlfriend and their romantic relationship begins by her inserting diamond earrings into her ears that he has given her as a sign of the recognition of their relationship. The diamond earrings symbolize her transformation from a male oriented identity to a female oriented identity that has emerged because of her new found relationship. In the films that have been discussed, it has been clearly established that the empowerment of the female is then domesticated through the development of a relationship. The unconventional events that more often the female lead has put into motion place her outside of the public sphere in terms of her belonging and all is made right when she takes her place in the relationship and fulfils the mandates of being female. As can be seen from the films before the sexual revolution of the sixties and after that time of social change, the mandates of equality have always been subverted. This occurs by the differences between the sexes with the female role being defined by her consumerism, her need to be in a relationship, and her incapacity to be conventional within the public sphere. Women need diamonds, require the relationship in contrast to the male figure that is not in pursuit of that relationship, and when in the public sphere women must behave in unconventional ways in order to achieve their goals. As this is the framework of the female position, it is in the male position that changes can be more easily observed when examining the romantic comedy genre. Masculine Identities in Romantic Comedies Integrity/Duplicity According to Glitre (2006, p. 169) women are traditionally associated with deceit while men are associated with integrity. Women are considered duplicitous. The phallocentric logic behind which this idea is developed can be seen through Freudian theories about the differences between men and women where with men what you see is what you get, but with women you do not even see anything, thus they are left in mystery. What is seen as truth and upfront is found in the male body, while the female body represents what cannot be understood. An example of this as presented by Glitre (2006, p. 169) is in the film Lover Come Back in which Jerry Webster (Rock Hudson) is seen as honest and with the integrity of the male identity until he is seen in a woman’s fur coat, after which he becomes unfathomable. Flipping the basic duplicitous female role to the male lead has been done. In some films, men are portrayed as the duplicitous characters as they seek the unconventional in order to meet their objectives. A prime example of this can be seen in the film Pillow Talk (1959) where the lead male character, played by Rock Hudson, fools the female character into believing that he is not the same person that has been plaguing her on her party line phone (IMDB 2012). In further examination, however, it can be observed that the female character is shown to first be an irritant to the male, then to get revenge through unconventional means, meeting the standards that the audience can accept for forgiving the male lead for his actions and still placing the duplicitous nature on the female lead. One distinct difference when the roles are reversed, however, is that where men simply accept the deceit of women, women plot and execute revenge continuing their role as deceitful as they ‘out do’ the male effort (McDonald 2007, p. 74). The Male Stereotype It is therefore the stereotypes of male and female that defined the roles within romantic comedies. However, the nature of the male role has changed significantly in the past hundred years of Hollywood cinematic history. In looking at the example of Rock Hudson as a lead in romantic comedies, the presentation of the male can be developed as having been objectified as well as standardized. While it may be seen as misogynistic, the romantic comedy actually defined the male role as without meaningful substance or differentiation. Male romantic leads were typically in good employment, not in touch with their emotions and need the female lead to introduce them to their feelings, and either fall into the category of womanizer or uptight conservative. According to Glitre (2006, p. 162) the role of Brad/Rex in Pillow Talk shows the stereotyping of love as either romance as a construction or seduction as a manipulation. Seduction, as shown through both Tony Randall’s character and Rock Hudson’s, is an act of consumption, a manipulation based upon the desire to attain. In the case of Randall’s character, it requires Jan consuming alcohol to facilitate the seduction, although this does not succeed. In the case of Hudson’s act of seduction, it is the consumption of electricity through the use of strategic switches that dim lights and turn on appropriate music. What can be observed through this is actually the refusal of women to be genuine to their sexual responses and the need to use consumables in order to negotiate their surrender. What should be a metaphor for female virtue is modified to prostitution as it requires something outside of the interaction to seduce the female. It is not presented as virtue, but as exchange. Laham (2009, p. 136) discusses the nature of the male role in early romantic comedies as it was often objectified by good looks that had little to no substance and that the stories were more defined by the journey of the female character as she works to attain the love of the male through transforming his focus from public to the domestic sphere. Glitre (2006, p. 162) writes that when Hudson was initially discovered the producers found that they did not care whether or not he could act, but only cared that when he took off his shirt he was beautiful on screen. Still, the female is at the mercy of the decisions made by the male lead, his choices defining how the story will end in relationship to her manipulations and unconventional actions. The male character has less development than the female role, his character a stereotype male while she is filled with neurotic, catastrophic, and duplicitous intention which manifests in a large number of traits. Even in comedies based upon male leads, there were more often two to represent the male presence. This can be exampled in the work of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis where Martin was the example of the handsome, stoic character who held the integrity of the male presence, while Lewis was the unpredictable side-kick who did not get the girl, but was at the centre of the events of the storyline. It is no accident that Lewis held a somewhat feminized appeal in the nature in which he presented his comedy. He represented the lack of honesty where Martin represented male integrity (McDonald 2007, p. 67). Attraction and Humour The Defective Male Lead The ‘beefcake’ nature of the male role in romantic comedies during the 1950s and 1960s began to transform in the 1970s as the leads in romantic comedies began to no longer have that static nature. In creating an attraction to the male lead, humour began to emerge as a more important element of attraction over that of good looks and steady employment. In Annie Hall (1977) Woody Allen broke through as the not so good looking male lead who won his female lead, played by the beautiful Diane Keaton. She is attracted to him not because he is an ‘alpha’ male, but because he makes her laugh. Being the humorous lead has changed the nature of attraction within the cultural context of relationships. Humour trumps good looks in most romantic comedies. In modern comedies, good looks may accompany humour, but humour can be independent of good looks. The American actor Justin Long has shown that traditional good looks are not necessary to be a male lead in a romantic comedy. While not a romantic comedy, his comedic timing and culturally modern characterization in Live Free or Die Hard (2007), lead to leading roles in He’s just not that In to You (2009), Going the Distance (2010), and A Case of You (2013) (IMDB 2012). In major motion pictures out of Hollywood and placed into worldwide distribution, female leads are almost always still career minded, deceitful, and incredibly beautiful. Male leads, however, are not always employed or may have questionable employment, may be or may not be good looking, and no longer are required to have a standardized character through which they are portrayed. Recent films such as those starring Gerard Butler show that the new romantic lead character can be a rogue and still sell his position as a leading man. Films such as Playing for Keeps (2012) and The Bounty Hunter (2011) show him as less than desirable in relationship to his income or nature, but in the end he is shown as redeemable and gets the girl. While Gerard Butler is good looking, the leading man in a romantic comedy does not even have to be either gainfully employed and thus a good provider, or good looking. Films by Seth Rogan place slacker, unemployed and undesirable men in leading roles in order to wring humour from their situations while still managing to get the girl in the end. A film such as Knocked Up stars not only (2007) stars Katherine Heigl, who was also the lead in Playing for Keeps with Gerard Butler, and is the object of love for the film. Conclusion The Hollywood version of the romantic comedy genre has remained relatively the same throughout the history of film. The single exception is that of the masculine identity within the romantic genre. Where the romantic lead in the romantic comedy was based upon the male integrity, his nature being that of a good provider and a good looking male specimen, he has evolved to where the male no longer needs to be good looking, employed, or even socially acceptable. A strong influence on the literary translation of the nature of the sexes can be seen through Freud’s theory on the differentiation of the sexes. Women are an enigma, where men are simply what they appear to be on screen. Where the defining elements of the male integrity and the female deceit once divided the genders, male are no longer held to a high standard and while they are often portrayed as honest with women being deceitful, they are not always portrayed as dominant. Humour is one of the more important aspects of the male identity within the romantic comedy. Actors such as Woody Allen and Dustin Hoffman changed the male identity in the 1970s through getting the girl, not through their male desirability in relationship to virility and financial stability, but through their ability to make a woman laugh. A wider range of types are now playing the male lead roles in romantic comedies, even though the female lead role has remained relatively stable. Women are still expected to be beautiful, statuesque, successful, career-minded, and all with an undercurrent of mystery that translates into deceit. Male roles in romantic comedies have changed dramatically throughout the history of film. ding to Glitre (2006, p. ic Comedies wood Styled Romantic Comediessved when examining the Romantic Comedy Genre. female po Bibliography Glitre, K. (2006). Hollywood romantic comedy: States of the union, 1934-65. Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press. Grindon, L. (2011). The Hollywood romantic comedy: Conventions, history, controversies. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. IMDB (2012) [Online] Retrieved www.imdb.com. Accessed on 1 January 2012 Laham, N. (2009). Currents of comedy on the American screen: How film and television deliver different laughs for changing times. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co. McDonald, T. J. (2007). Romantic comedy: Boy meets girl meets genre. London: Wallflower. Read More