A Fighting Man's Club

Fight Club tells the story of an unnamed everyman, who finds himself unable to match societies’ requirement for happiness, and therefore embarks upon a unique journey to find enlightenment. At the beginning of the movie the unnamed protagonist (who sometimes refers to himself as Jack) was suffering from insomnia, so he asked his doctor to write him a prescription to help him sleep. However his doctor refused to do so and instead he recommended that Jack attend a group therapy session for men with testicular cancer so that he could see real pain and suffering. At the group meeting Jack cried like a baby, and when he got home that night he slept like a log. After that Jack was hooked. He attended a group therapy meeting everyday of the week until a woman named Marla Singer ruined it for him. Eventually the Narrator befriended a man by the name of Tyler Durden on an airplane flight. After the flight, Jack returned to find his apartment and all of his worldly possessions on fire. Having no one else to turn to he called up Tyler, and after a long night of drinking Jack asked Tyler if he could spend the night at his place. Tyler agreed on the condition that Jack punch him in the face, so Jack punched Tyler in the face, Tyler punched him back, and then they fought. After attracting a crowd the two men decided to start a fight club. Their fight club prospered and in time it grew into Project Mayhem, an underground terrorist organization focused on destroying corporations. Eventually it became clear to the audience that Tyler wasn’t a real person, but rather a figment of Jack’s imagination. At the end of the movie Jack had to shoot himself in the face to get rid of Tyler Durden once and for all.

The Narrator’s character didn’t exhibit many masculine traits at all. He was shy, subordinate, weak, skittish, unimposing, and a shopaholic. During a conversation, Tyler suggested that the reason that Jack never learned how to become a man was because he never had a father figure around to teach him. As a result Jack’s subconscious created Tyler as a way to compensate for his lack of masculinity, and teach him how to become a “real man”. Tyler’s character embodied masculinity, depicting to the audience what it meant to truly be masculine. He was strong, handsome, courageous, outgoing, confident, and ambitious. As the movie progressed a change in the Narrator’s character became more and more apparent. The more time Jack spent with Tyler, the manlier he became. By the end of the movie, the Narrator had become a man and therefore no longer needed Mr. Durden. Tyler’s death symbolized Jack’s completion of his quest to attain masculinity. In conclusion, Fight Club examined the effect of a fatherless childhood on an individual’s masculinity and utilized Tyler’s character to depict masculinity to the audience.

"Sling Blade" killed a manly man. Umm Hmm.

The movie “Sling Blade” tells the tale of Karl Childers following his release from a psychiatric hospital. Karl was a mentally retarded man, who had been confined to a psychiatric hospital since he killed his mother and her lover when he was a 12 years old boy. Early in the movie, Karl befriended a young boy named Frank Wheatley. After meeting Frank’s mother, Linda, and her best friend, Vaughan Cunningham, Karl decided to accept Frank and Linda’s offer to live her and her son in their garage. Before long it became apparent that Linda’s boyfriend, Doyle Hargraves, was a violent alcoholic with a short fuse, and that he needed to be dealt with. Eventually Doyle decided to move in with Linda so that he could torment frank and get rid of Karl. Fearing that Doyle would inevitably harm Frank and Linda, Karl killed Doyle with a lawn mower blade.

Although Frank, Karl, and Vaughan were technically males, they were not masculine men. Frank was just a boy, and Karl was just a boy trapped inside a man’s body. They were still learning right from wrong. They had not yet developed a concept of what it meant to be masculine, let alone exhibit such traits. In addition Vaughan was a homosexual, and a very feminine one at that. Doyle was the only important masculine male character in the movie, and therefore his character was used exclusively to depict to the audience what it meant to be masculine.

Doyle treated Linda poorly. He worked construction so he made a pretty good living, but he didn’t help Linda out with any money though. He had his own house so that he could cheat on Linda with other women, and he was disgustingly mean to her son. He was always drunk, and regularly threatened Frank and Linda’s health and safety. On one occasion, Doyle demanded that Karl and Vaughan get out of his house because he doesn’t like “cocksuckers and retards.” However they were at Linda’s house, and when Linda reminded him of that fact and suggested that he get some of his other girlfriends and go home, Doyle replied, “You know better than to talk to me like that when I'm hurtin', Linda. Don't make me knock the piss outta you.” At that point Linda told Doyle that he needed to go home and sober up or she would leave him for good, to which Doyle replied, “If you even think about leaving me, Linda, I told you: I'm gonna kill you deader than a door nail.” In addition to that, he was just plain rude to her. He ordered her around like his own personal servant. For instance, he interrupted a nice family dinner by demanding that Linda go get his guitar immediately, and on another occasion he even had the nerve to ask Linda, “What am I supposed to do about supper while you're out runnin' around with that fag?” because she had made plans to spend time with her best friend that night. In conclusion, "Sling Blade" exhibited a negative portrayal of masculinity by depicting the sole masculine character, Doyle, as a horrible person.

Manly Guy

Family Guy is an animated television sitcom centered on the dysfunctional Griffin family. The show mostly focuses on the shenanigans of Peter Griffin, the father of the family, but it certainly doesn’t overlook the rest of his family; which is comprised of Luis, Peter’s wife, Chris, their oldest son, Meg, their only daughter, Stewie, their youngest son, and Brian, their dog. The show also features a large cast of reoccurring minor characters from the small town of Quahog. The most notable of which would be Peter’s best friends and neighbors: Joe Swanson, Cleveland Brown, and Glenn Quagmire.

The show utilizes most of its characters to illustrate traditional gender roles. For example, Peter is a working class father with a job at a local factory and Luis is a stay at home mother, while Joe Swanson is a paraplegic cop and his wife Bonnie is a pregnant school teacher. The only major exception would be the Brown family, in which Cleveland is subservient to his wife, Loretta. In addition, the show establishes a traditional definition of masculinity by associating conventionally masculine traits and pastimes with male characters. For instance, Peter and his friends regularly congregate at their local pub, The Drunken Clam, to drink beer and watch TV.

Family Guy portrays male characters in a negative manner in an effort to belittle the traditional ideals of masculinity. This practice is readily apparent throughout the show. For example, Peter is depicted as a fat, lazy, stupid, irresponsible, and childish alcoholic, Chris is portrayed as an overweight idiot, and Quagmire is made out to be a womanizer with no inhibitions. The only significant exception would be Cleveland Brown; whose character is depicted as a nice, mild-mannered, and calm individual with no notable vices and/or character flaws other than his decidedly submissive nature. Fascinatingly, Cleveland is the only male character that doesn’t fulfill a traditionally masculine gender role throughout the show.

In conclusion, Family Guy illustrates customary gender roles, and negatively portrays conventionally masculine characters in an effort to convey traditional masculine ideals in a negative manner.