Screen Aesthetics - Coursework Example

2304HUM Screen Aesthetics Final Paper Noriko Sakamoto ID: 2641407 convenor Amanda Howell Word count: 2000?words Due date: Topic 4: Drawing on your Mulvey and Neale readings, as well as Tasker’s discussion, analyse the representation of masculinity in one of the Die Hard films. How is the McClane character represented as a site of identification? As spectacle? Masculinity has been displayed on the any genre of films. In particular, the action films are one of the most visible examples for masculinity. The Die Hard series are, compared with pre-action films, not perfect for representing the masculinity; however, those show the general men’s attitude. Thus, it has improved to be the mainstream Hollywood action films. Due to the action and excitement of its films, Bruce Willies has become popular film star in action epics. This paper will focus on masculinity of that ways of the representation of McClane, the persona in the Die Hard films; also this character In particular, it would be discuss using one of Die Hard series, Die Hard 2: Die Harder. In this film, the symbol of masculinity is the build of body. Bruce Willies as McClane has athletic build. Compared with the first series of Die Hard, Die Hard 2 does not show a lot of his bodily physical beauty. There is some different approach for presenting the masculinity. Furthermore, his speaking style is marginal at best as gentleman. It could be proved his manhood. The action films commonly present how the masculinity has been emphasized and displayed. Of course, Women do not get a fair shake in action movies, but it could be seen the shift of the femininity to focus on the men in this film. Therefore, the masculinity does not mean the power of men, it is implied the women’s Mise en scene: Die Hard is an action movie full of thrilling scene full of spectacular scenes produced with the latest visual special effects. It deals with a spectacle uses of technologies. For instance, it is used an enormous scenes of the bombshell and the gun shooting. The camera effects in different scenes are extremely well taken for example the use of different lights to elongate and emphasize on certain scenes. The movie has also been digitized in nature. Disney was the first company to produce such a digital movie in the shape of Rescuers Down Under and the first digital matte painting for Die Hard 2 was done by ILM. In the scene where Willis is spewed out of the cockpit of the plane, the film contains an excessive amount of Blue Screen Composting as well. Die Hard is the story of a very tough and masculine cop who lies in New York and goes by the name of John McClane. He goes to Los Angeles to visit his wife for the first time in order to convince her to get back to New York and live with him. He visits her office with a view to bring her back where she is having a Christmas party with her friends but he soon sees that criminals take over that very building pretending to be political terrorists. The focus of the movie now shifts from McClane trying to win his wife back to having a mission to kill all the terrorists and save his wife. The terrorists threaten to kill all the people who were inside the building in order to procure the bonds which were stored in the vault of the company. Willis however, takes on a number of actions in order to outwit them all, show his true masculinity and kill the leader of the gang of criminals as well as the rest of the them, while at the same time, winning his wife back. (Grant, Barry Keith.) The main character in the movie physically overpowers and overshadows the criminals through his extreme strength and force. This is a dramatic movie which shows the charisma which the male protagonist possesses having been struggled in the earlier part of life. The movie in a way redeems the order of the lead character and the turn of events in which he shows machismo enables him to win his wife back as well. The movie consists of some brutal action scenes taking place where the male protagonists are beating up his enemies in an extremely flamboyant manner. The core essence of the movie has been derived from the masculinity of the hero and the way he carries that masculinity in order to fight his criminals. The state of masculinity has been represented in Die Hard 2 very well, as it signifies the way the movie captures the art of masculinity in men over the past few decades. The movie in a nut shell does the job of displaying the hard core nature of men where men fight it out physically with their enemies and there is sheer brute power used to handle the situation. Films like Lock Up, Die Hard, Tango and Cash have glorified the masculinity in men. Films like these have exemplified a tendency of the Hollywood action cinema towards the construction of masculine gender. Following is an example from the movie which elaborates this perception: “McClane confirms his heterosexual status early on, both in sexual and modernized cowboy terms. He displays hetero characteristics not through Holly, but rather with his wandering eyes that scope-out women on the plane, in the airport, and then revisit a naked pin-up girl posted on a maintenance wall in Nakatomi Plaza” Every man feels that his masculinity is proven by the physical structure of his body. Furthermore, it has become very important for a man to over expose himself in order to prove to others the level of masculinity he possesses. Without such a flawless structure, a man would cease to be both manly enough and heroic. In the movie, the actor strips down intentionally in order to show the audience his body and prove to them that he has the ability to embark upon the various hurdles that will come his way. His body is also an iconic image and is his most raw form, adorning which he can defeat enemies in a better manner. However, even then, when he is defeating terrorists, the ironic part is that the only ‘naked’ aspect of his body remains to be his feet. (Deep Focus Review - The Definitives - Die Hard (1988).") McClane is the protagonist in the movie and throughout the movie he displays a sense of manliness which is characterized by strong physical attributes tailored for an audience looking for brute force in men as a means to identify them. The character possesses a strong desire to physically defeat his opponents rather than functioning from the intelligence of his mind. He is inclined to use his arms and legs ad a means to destroy his enemies, as this is seen to be a the work of a stereotype male who has been carved out from nature to fight the cold blooded demons out of his own hands and without the use of any external objects. Every man must be able to get past certain tortures and hurdles during the course of his lifetime. The same takes place in the movie when the pain and torture that the actor is made to undergo in the name of his loved ones, pains him a great deal. That masculinity can be seen as performative, as insistently denaturalized, has been something of a touchstone in Hollywood cinema. The actor however is not able to control whatever is happening around him because of the circumstances into which he has been thrust. This makes Willis involved with the bureaucracy as well as the failure of the State machinery. (Cohan, Steven.) In the movie the main character goes through a lot of hurdles which are key in the way he fights the criminals. He is enraged by the fact that he is alone to fight the criminals and the fact that the State machinery has been unable to do anything about the crime scene has just increased his responsibility on the people and also his braveness which is tested to the limits. In the movie, Bruce Willis is a white male protagonist and he has a great amount of sex appeal which pleases the audience. He conspires to attain victory over evil by grasping the support of law institutions however; he is not a follower of rules and regulations. Willis does not care about what might be happening in his surroundings, only cares about how he must go past his plan. This is a varied sign of masculinity because most men are like this in the world today. He ignores procedures and harps on a very wild attitude instead of having a more gentle approach towards getting his things done. This goes to show that men are indeed very rough by nature and believe in aggressiveness. (Lewis, Jon.) The writer of the book was analyzing the way in which Hollywood moved towards dramatic showing of the braveness of the main hero. The movie transcripts through the stages of the male lead initially struggling to fight his enemies, but once he is able to get his act together he unleashes the tragedy which was inflicted upon him on his enemies. The male lead often displayed his bruised body as a symbol of the struggle he had to go through in the movie, and his action scenes are dramatized to the extent of brutally overcoming his foes. Movies like the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon have symbolized the struggles of the white man in a particular context which has been developed and matured over the years to carve out a more refined show of masculine power. There are times in the movie when there is nothing going right for the main lead and inspite of all the obstacles he manages to overcome the weaknesses to defeat the criminals which on paper look much stronger. The force and strength of the character is showed and displayed in by way of enabling him to tackle the entire mob on his own and still come triumphs in spite of all the odds which were also prevalent in the movie. The main protagonist in the movie reminds the audience of an anthropomorphized phallus, a phallus with muscles. There are simulations of exaggerated masculinity, the original completely lost to sight which may be observed within the film as well. (Cohan, Steven.) The hero has been devastated due to unforeseen circumstances in his life and the battler he fights is the perfect way to vindicate himself from the scars of the past in his life. He eventually manages to dethrone all the enemies one by one, however, it takes a massive toll on his body which is the main weapon he possess in the way of his war with the evil characters of the movie. Conclusion: To conclude, Die Hard and Die Hard 2 epitomized the way Hollywood portrayed masculinity in the cinema. It showcased how a common man who has been a police officer faces troubles in his personal life, which have hurt him deeply and emotionally. The war he fights against the terrorists is the best way to heal those scars which had been left on his heart by his wife when they had decided to part way from each other. And in the process of saving his wife he eventually wins the support of his wife, and manages to redeem his personality and also find solace in the fact that he ended up saving people from the bloodshed of the evil people in the society. When McClane found two guys who look something bad or having secret To appeal the body seems like body builder Bloody body Although he is not a perfect person and has a pitiable appearance with significantly wounds, the figure in deadly fighting with a terrorist for his wife, Holly, is a man. References: Die Hard 2 1990, 20th Century Fox, motion pictures, produced by. Directed by Renny Harlin. Tasker, Yvonne 1993, ‘Tough guys and wise guys: masculinities and star images in the action cinema’ in Spectacular bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema, Comedia, London, pp. 73-90. Mulvey, Laura 1975, ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’ in Screen, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 6-18. Neale, Steve 1983, ‘Masculinity as spectacle: reflection on men and mainstream cinema’ in Screen, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 2-17. Cohan, Steven. "Screening the Male: Exploring ... - Steven Cohan, Ina Rae Hark." Google Books. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. . Grant, Barry Keith. "Film Genre: from Iconography to Ideology - Barry Keith Grant." Google Books. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. . Deep Focus Review - The Definitives - Die Hard (1988)." Deep Focus Review : Movie Reviews - Release Dates - Movie Trailers - Classic Films. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. . Lewis, Jon. "The New American Cinema - Jon Lewis." Google Books. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. . "Masculinity in the Modern Mainstream Cinema." HopkinsCinemAddicts. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. . "Men and Masculinities: a Social ..." Google Books. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. . The Cycle of Masculinity in the Cinema: The Male Hero at a Glance." (Cult)ure Magazine - Arts, Politics, Culture. Web. 02 Nov. 2011. . Read More