Bibliographic Essay

Masculinity in Film: The Emergence of a

New Literature
By Gerald Butters Jr.

n outpouring of literature on the relationship between

film and masculinity has emerged in the past decade.
As the contours of a multiplatform, global cinema
emerge in the twenty-first century, numerous scholars
have interrogated depictions and constructions of masculinity
in film and have related this imagery to larger patterns within
contemporary culture. This essay will examine the major trends
in scholarship in cinematic masculinity from 2003 to 2013 and
will discuss some of the key works in the field. This will not be
an exhaustive list of all literature on this
subject; instead, it will focus on superior
scholarship on current trends, with reference
to subjects that have yet to be examined.
Appended to the cite list at the end of
this feature is a chronological list of films
mentioned in this essay. This list points
readers toward at least some of the films that
can, and should, be considered in terms of
masculinity studies.
If there is one scholar who has been
setting the bar in cinematic masculinity
studies, it is David Gerstner of CUNY,
College of Staten Island. His two recent
volumes, both multidisciplinary, Manly
Arts: Masculinity and the Nation in Early
American Cinema and Queer Pollen: White
Seduction, Black Male Homosexuality,
and the Cinematic demonstrate that
highly theoretical, complex works can be
intriguing, relevant, creative, and bold all
Gerald Butters Jr. is professor of history at Aurora
University.

Feburary 2014

at the same time. In Manly Arts, Gerstner

examines the countless intersections
between discursive/aesthetic practices and
historical lives as they relate to issues of
nationalism, masculinity, and the Other in
late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century
American culture. The author does not
limit himself to American cinema practices
but instead demonstrates the multiplicity of
discourses related to gender and aesthetics
in American artistic practices in general.
Gerstner is interested in what he describes
as the feasting of the Other, the way in
which American male artists construct their
national manhood through the othering
process. He demonstrates that this process
is complex. In his epilogue, he argues that
the repetition of discourse and practice
that organizes the terms for American
masculinism and nationalism by no means
augurs a homogeneous ideological culture.
The author uses a wide variety of cinematic
and noncinematic sources to make his point.

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What he finds intriguing are the ironic

failings, the peculiar twists and turns, and
the over-determined [in the construction
of ] masculinist nationalism in American
cinematic arts.
In Queer Pollen, Gerstner examines the
work of Richard Bruce Nugent, James
Baldwin, and Marlon Riggs, three of the
most influential black gay artists of the
twentieth century. Though Riggs was the
only filmmaker per se (Baldwin was on the
fringes of cinema culture as a screenwriter
and film essayist), Gerstner interrogates
the impact of this work on homoerotic
whiteness, a decadent cross-pollination
between black and white. Theorists
often privilege the blackness over the
gayness in these three artists work;
Gerstner demonstrates the messiness of their
artistic conceptualization and the multiple
influences that inform their oeuvres. In
addition, he demonstrates their use of
the cinematic (as an aesthetic and as an
apparatus). As Gerstner says of Riggss
work, He ably directed his career-long work
toward the intricate cross-pollination of
cultures that ultimately resisted a definition
of identity once and for all.
Eric Andersons ethnographic study of
young British men in Inclusive Masculinity:
The Changing Nature of Masculinities
demonstrates the ways in which media
cultures have helped change young mens
values regarding standards of masculinity.
Anderson places the discussion of
homohysteria, in which homophobia
and misogynistic discourse reign, in the
context of organized sports and homosocial
environments such as fraternities. He
reveals a rapidly changing cultural terrain
in which physical intimacy between

men is accepted and overt misogyny is

condemned. Such material is invaluable
for understanding the twenty-first-century
bromance, which has reigned over
American comedy in the past decade.
Scholars working with film and
masculinity have drawn heavily on Freudian
and Lacanian psychology in the past; in
recent work, feminist and queer theory have
played increasingly important roles. One of
the most successful recent studies is Candida
Yatess highly theoretical Masculine Jealousy
and Contemporary Cinema. Although
the boom in psychoanalytic film studies
(which flourished in the late twentieth
century) is over, Yates demonstrates that
this approach can still result in important
contributions to the field. The strength of
Yatess argument lies in her refusal to rely
solely on psychoanalysis in her critique of
contemporary film. Bringing strategies of
cultural studies, close textual analysis, and
star deconstruction to psychoanalytic
theory, Yates delivers a revealing, nuanced
work on the nexus between masculinity
and the emotive qualities of jealousy in
English-language film. She does close
readings of Taxi Driver, A Perfect Murder,
The End of the Affair, The Piano, and
Unfaithful,and demonstrates her mastery of
feminist film criticism. Her multipronged,
multitheoretical approach makes this an
intriguing study and demonstrates that
cutting-edge theory does not rely on a
singular mode of operation.
Male spectatorship has largely been
ignored by those working in film studies.
In Love, Tears, and the Male Spectator,
Kenneth MacKinnon attempts to rectify
this problem. Since Laura Mulveys
groundbreaking work on psychoanalytic film
theory and modes of gendered spectatorship
in the 1970s, there has been an assumption
that male and female spectators read films
differently, and that film genres are firmly
defined by gender. MacKinnon turns that
notion on its head in his fresh readings of
classic 1950s films such as The Men (1950),
Sunset Boulevard (1950), A Streetcar Named
Desire (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953),
and Rear Window (1954), to name just a
handful. MacKinnon considers fantasy,
masquerade, and readership; by utilizing
queer theory, he questions notions of sexual
identity and gender.
Whereas late-twentieth-century studies
of cinematic masculinity often focus on

the classical era in Hollywood, recent

studies have increasingly considered
contemporary cinema. David Grevens
Manhood in Hollywood from Bush to Bush
is one of the best-known texts of the genre.
Greven explores themes of narcissism
and masochism in relation to American
film from 1988 to 2008. He argues that
narcissism is a potentially radical mode
of male sexuality, whereas masochism has
emerged as the default mode of a traditional,
normative masculinity. Though the book is
highly theoretical, and indeed a challenging
read, the author does a good job of weaving
together classical mythology, psychoanalytic
theory, Mulveyan gaze theory, and textual
analysis of several key films of the era. These
include Casualties of War, The Silence of the
Lambs, The Passion of the Christ, and the two
most analyzed films of the past decade in
terms of constructions of masculinity, Fight
Club and Brokeback Mountain.
Though most contemporary scholars
attempt to disavow the crisis in
masculinity model that dominated
late-twentieth-century discussions of
the topic, they still often begin with this
construct or deliver another version of
it. Donna Peberdys brilliant Masculinity
and Film Performance studies male angst
in contemporary American cinema. The
author demonstrates how performance
studies theory can greatly aid those working
in masculinity studies in film. As Peberdy
writes in her introduction, Being a Man,
she considers performance in three main
ways: overall presentation of actions,
specific enactments that present a character,
and gendered enactments that are informed
by cultural expectations. The books first
chapter, Performance and Masculinity,
is required reading for anyone working
in cinema studies. The author not only
sizes up the field, demonstrating her broad
knowledge of performance studies, but also
illustrates how new questions regarding
masculinity in film must be addressed.
Peberdy argues that many of the actors she
discusses (Bill Murray, Michael Douglas,
Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson) continue to
play angst-ridden characters in Hollywood,
underscoring the importance of
considering screen persona alongside screen
performance.
The collection has been the dominant
literary form in masculinity studies in
the past decade. The key to success in

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the collection is the skill and direction of

the editor. Those works that embody a
common theme prove to be most helpful
to the reader. Those that are a hodgepodge
of articles loosely tied by subject matter
are less useful. Krin Gabbard and William
Luhrs edited volume Screening Genders is
an example of superior work. Occasionally
the contribution of an individual author to
a collection is so exemplary that it deserves
recognition. Screening Genders begins with
a seminal article by gender theorist pioneer
E. Ann Kaplan titled A History of Gender
Theory in Cinema Studies. This lengthy
historical and theoretical analysis of gender
theory in film should be required reading for
anyone working in critical theory. A second
lengthy essay in this volume, Lucy Fischers
Theory into Practice: En-Gendering
Narrative in Magnolia demonstrates
how the film Magnolia simultaneously
presents and critiques the operations of
patriarchy. Fischers essay demonstrates
how theory can work and how issues of
race, gender, sexuality, and familial relations
are inseparable.
A successful collection, in any discipline,
hinges on three characteristics: strong
editing, a sharp focus, and essays that
substantially contribute to the field. One
of the strongest volumes on contemporary
cinematic masculinity is Millennial
Masculinity: Men in Contemporary
American Cinema, edited by Timothy
Shary. The collection includes essays on
much-analyzed films such as Fight Club
and Brokeback Mountain but also on
unexpected subjects such as Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Adam Sandler, and neo-retro
heist films. There is not a trivial essay
in the entire volume. One outstanding
contribution is Donna Peberdys Politics
Is Theater: Performance, Sexuality,
and Milk, in which she examines the
relationship between performer (Sean
Penn) and performance (as Harvey Milk
in Milk). Building on the work of Richard
Dyer, Peberdy addresses some crucial and
fascinating questions regarding cinematic
authenticity and sexual orientation.
Millennial Masculinity is essential for
those working in cinematic masculinity
studies not only because the essays are
provocative but also because it provides
helpful supplemental materials that address
masculinity (e.g., a list of U.S. films) and
an exhaustive bibliography.
February 2014

Some collections include essays that

deal with masculinity but specifically
cinematic masculinity. For example, Lucia
Kramers article From Glam Rock to Cock
Rock is among the essays in Performing
Masculinity, edited by Rainer Emig and
Antony Rowland. Kramer examines rock
masculinities in recent feature films such
as Rock Star, Almost Famous, Still Crazy,
and Velvet Goldmine. She argues that
the first three of these films rely on and
support a construction of rock as a male
cosmos streaked by homophobia, misogyny
and a gendered conception of fandom.
Velvet Goldmine is significantly different
in that it is marked by ambivalences and
uncertainties. Though Kramers is the only
essay in this collection to treat film, the
volume is valuable for its acknowledgment
and consideration of masculinity studies
across the disciplines.
The vast majority of studies on
contemporary cinematic masculinity
emphasize Hollywood or American
independent film. There are significant
exceptions to this, though. The Trouble
with Men, edited by Phil Powrie, Ann
Davies, and Bruce Babington, focuses on
both American and European films, but the
European cinema dominates. The editors
divide the contributions into four sections:
Stars, Class and Race, Fathers, and
Bodies. The essays in the first two
sections in particular provide a nice blend of
historicism and cultural theory. Especially
noteworthy are discussions of Gene Kelly,
Clark Gable, Paco Rabal, and Michael
Caine in the first section and, in the second,
of Jewishness and masculinity in Yiddish
cinema and manhood in post-1995 French
banlieue film. The editors introduction
provides a useful overview of the state of
the field and makes readers aware of other
valuable work on masculinity and film.
Most useful to scholars working in cultural
theory, this volume demonstrates the rich
possibilities for further scholarship on
manhood in world cinema.

Masculinity and Genre

Recent work analyzing the relationship
between cinematic masculinity and film
genre is plentiful. Barry Keith Grants
Shadows of Doubt is a good starting point
for those interested in this relationship. The
February 2014

clear strength of this volume is the authors

all-encompassing knowledge of film theory
and history, which allows him to deal with
a wide-ranging group of films. Among the
genres Grant considers are melodrama (D.
W. Griffiths Broken Blossoms), comedy (the
work of W. C. Fields and Groucho Marx),
Westerns (Howard Hawkss Red River),
science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey), and
horror (Night of the Living Dead). Grants
ability to connect the dots across these
genres is remarkable, and he approaches
theory in a way that is understandable to
readers. Shadows of Doubt is an ambitious
volume; few film scholars would be willing
to take on multiple genres in one study.
Far more common are works on specific
genres of film and how masculinity
is constructed within each cinematic
category. Mark Gallagher takes on actionadventure films in his Action Figures:
Men, Action Films, and Contemporary
Adventure Narratives. Gallagher deals
with both cinematic and literary works,
and he illustrates how such texts employ
numerous strategies to define particular
spaces and environments as settings for
action and male agency, to reestablish mens
privileged position in active space, and
to code a range of activities as inherently
masculine. Rather than focus on classical
Hollywood film, he addresses cinema after
1965, when action films became one of the
largest moneymaking genres for filmmakers
in the United States. Gallagher argues
that popular narratives of male heroism
often demarcate the boundaries of active
masculinity. Perhaps in no other genre is
male heroism such an active component of
the logic of the narrative. Gallagher delivers
close textual analysis of seminal action films
such as Point Break, The Omega Man, and
The Getaway, all of which have (or will
soon have) multiple cinematic versions,
illustrating the popularity of the genre and
the need to constantly redefine or signify
appropriate standards of masculinity.
The war film has also received recent
scholarly attention. In Armed Forces:
Masculinity and Sexuality in the American
War Film, Robert Eberwein constructs a
paradigm in which relationships between
men in war evolve into either men loving
men or men killing men. Yet, the author
contends, it is the violence that is sexualized
while homosocial (or homosexual?) love
is de-eroticized. The phallic possibilities

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regarding war weaponry are endless within

war films, as Eberwein aptly demonstrates.
Two recent works on the so-called
King of the Jungle, Tarzan, illustrate how
masculine ideals can be reworked within
the action-adventure genre. Alex Vernons
profane take on Tarzan in On Tarzan is so
thoughtful and daring that the author breaks
new ground in cultural studies. In eight
interlocking chapters, Vernon considers
the role of the jungle hero in relationship
to nature/civilization, his paramour Jane,
his pal Cheetah, and the continent of
Africa. Both Vernons study and Global
Perspectives on Tarzan: From King of the Jungle
to International Icon, edited by Annette
Wannamaker and Michelle Ann Abate,
demonstrate that Tarzan is an international
icon but has specific nationalist meanings in
relationship to masculinity and sociohistorical
context. This volume contextualizes Tarzan
in relationship to audiences in western
Canada, France, Israel, and India.
Perhaps one of the most overanalyzed
cinematic genres in relationship to
masculinity is the Western. Yet, surprisingly,
refreshing new titles continue to emerge,
titles that inform not only the specific genre
but also the field of masculinity studies as
a whole. Roderick McGilliss He Was Some
Kind of a Man: Masculinities in the B Western
is one such example. The author focuses on
the inexpensively made Westerns featuring
Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, the fictional
Hopalong Cassidy, et al. during the 1930s,
1940s, and 1950s. McGillis comments on
masculinitys relationship to capitalism and
consumerism, nature, race and ethnicity,
and romance. Though B Westerns would
seem to be a minor body of film, He Was
Some Kind of a Man demonstrates how
narrow studies of a particular topic can
make contributions that often transcend
their particular topic. In their edited
volume Hollywoods West: The American
Frontier in Film, Television and History, Peter
Rollins and John OConnor demonstrate
the ongoing political appeal of the Western
genre and the way in which Westerns
continue to define gender roles.
The classic movie musical (1943-65) has
also received a great deal of attention by
scholars interested in the construction of
masculinity. In Destabilizing the Hollywood
Musical: Music, Masculinity and Mayhem,
Kelly Kessler examines the post-Sound of
Music era (1966-83). She claims that in this

period the idealism that was so prevalent in

classic musicals withered away, and the genre
began to reflect the social unrest of the era.
Kessler devotes considerable attention to the
changing role of men in musicals in this era.
In the concluding chapter, she also examines
the post-1983 musical and the impact of
marketing, style, and televisual innovation
on the genre.
Mike Chopra-Gant explores film noira
genre much discussed in relationship to
masculinityin Hollywood Genres and
Postwar America: Masculinity, Family and
Nation in Popular Movies and Film Noir. In
this revisionist text, the author reexamines
classic noir films such as Gilda and Scarlet
Street. The author considers the role of
the absent father, the buddy group, the
hero, and male friendship within the noir
genre. Some recent studies of masculinity
on film emphasize the physical body and
its relationship to masochism. In Lady
Chatterleys Legacy in the Movies: Sex,
Brains, and Body Guys, Peter Lehman,
a significant contributor to the field of
cinematic masculinity studies, and Susan
Hunt examine American films that feature
the body guy. The authors argue that the
body guy subgenre of films emphasizes
the aggressive, athletic lovemaking prowess
of the well-endowed male. This figure is
in opposition to the mind guy, whose
cerebral nature and small penis make
him an unfulfilling lover to women. The
authors cover films from the mid-1980s to
the present, including Two Moon Junction,
Any Given Sunday, and Sideways. Lehman
and Hunt attribute the origins of this
male type to the character of Parkin in
D. H. Lawrences Lady Chatterleys Lover.
Among the outstanding discussions in this
volume are thought-provoking analyses
of Jewish male sexuality in cinema and of
how Holocaust imagery of the flaccid male
Holocaust victim makes such bodies into a
very public failed masculinity.

Masculinity and
National Identity
The past decade has seen an outpouring
of work on national constructions of
cinematic masculinity. In Contemporary
Hollywood Masculinities, Susanne Kord and
Elisabeth Krimmer consider a large body of

work from the Clinton-Bush years (19922008). The authors look at the intersection
of genre and masculinity in modern
American film, focusing on the nexus of
the political and the cinematic, because
there is an inextricable link between the
fate of masculinity and that of the nation.
Though most scholars consider the familiar
body of turn-of-the-century work, Kord
and Krimmer consider films that have been
outside that core group. These include huge
blockbusters and franchises such as The Lord
of the Rings, The Matrix, and Spiderman.
The authors demonstrate the importance of
such iconic films in negotiating the terrain
of masculinity. The authors emphasize
destabilized masculinity in their analysis
of late-twentieth- and early-twenty-firstcentury films, and they illustrate how this
body of movies differs from the hard-body
action films of the Reagan 1980s.
Ewa Mazierska fills in a gap in cultural
analysis of national cinemas with her study
Masculinities in Polish, Czech and Slovak
Cinema. She offers an excellent overview
of masculinity in relationship to war,
fatherhood, love, and homosexuality in
the films of these nations. This is a highly
interpretive yet readily accessible book.
One of its greatest strengths is its historical
grounding. The author places films within
the political and social movements occurring
at the time of their production and release,
and argues that the majority of portrayals
of men in her study were products of
history and ideology. Mazierskas subtle
understanding of larger psychological
forces at work within Polish, Czech, and
Slovak cultures and the impact that those
forces had on cinema make this a dynamic,
engaging study. She clearly demonstrates
how masculinity studies can be comparative,
historical, and theoretical at the same time.
This book serves as a model for future
national studies.
Other recent successful works on
nationalized masculinity include Santiago
Fouz-Hernndez and Alfredo MartnezExpsitos Live Flesh: The Male Body in
Contemporary Spanish Cinema, which
delivers a remarkably well-researched
scholarly study of the representation of male
bodies in contemporary Spanish cinema.
Chris Perriam also focuses on recent
Spanish cinema in Stars and Masculinities
in Spanish Cinema. Perriam examines the
careers and performances of well-known

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contemporary male stars such as Javier

Bardem and Antonio Banderas. Genevive
Selliers Masculine Singular delivers a genderstudies approach to the formidable and
groundbreaking body of films deemed the
French new wave.
In her ingenious Men and Masculinities
in Irish Cinema, Debbie Ging brings to
the table a host of topics, including gender
theory, national cinema, and masculinity
in film culture. Joseph Paul Mosers Irish
Masculinity on Screen: The Pugilists and
Peacemakers of John Ford, Jim Sheridan,
and Paul Greengrass explores fundamental
questions about violence, identity, and
patriarchy within Irish and Irish American
contexts. In New Soviet Man: Gender and
Masculinity in Stalinist Soviet Cinema, John
Haynes explores the imagined relationship
between the dictator Josef Stalin and his
sons throughout his empire. Haynes
demonstrates how the film industry of
the period could both have wide appeal
yet be subversive within the confines of
state censorship. Finally, Carolina Rocha
explores a wide body of Argentine film in
Masculinities in Contemporary Argentine
Popular Cinema. Rocha, a scholar of
Argentine culture, discusses the critical
reaction to a wide range of films and uses
gender theory to approach each text.

Masculinity and
Stardom
Many studies of cinematic masculinity
analyze an individual male motion picture
star in his relationship to the construction of
manhood on the screen. Clint Eastwood
has been one of the most iconic male figures
on the American screen for the past fifty
years. In his dual roles of actor and director,
Eastwood has perhaps done more to shape
the iconography of American cinematic
masculinity than just about any other figure.
Drucilla Cornell delivers an invigorating
look at the role of masculinity in the auteurs
oeuvre in her Clint Eastwood and Issues of
American Masculinity. She focuses on the
films that Eastwood directedthose in
which he had the most significant creative
control. A self-described ethical feminist,
Cornell centers the book on the connection
between masculinity and the struggle to
be ethical that seems to be at the core of
February 2014

Eastwoods films. Cornells interrogation

of moral conflict in Eastwoods films
and its connection to constructions of
masculinity are valuable for those working
in gender studies and those who are simply
intrigued by Eastwoods cinematic legacy.
Cornell has a decidedly positive view
of Eastwoods critiques of masculinity,
particularly in relationship to trauma, the
horrors of war, fatherhood, and friendship.
Her use of philosophy, literature, and
cinematic theory makes this an intriguing
(yet still surprisingly accessible) work.
Interdisciplinarity is one of the hallmarks
of recent superior work on cinematic
masculinity, and Cornell is an example of
those who go outside their narrow field of
study and use a wide variety of disciplines to
make their point.
Another extensive examination of
Eastwood is Howard Hughess Aim for
the Heart: The Films of Clint Eastwood.
Hughess impeccable research is evident in
his documentation of the genres in which
Eastwood was active. One of the most
substantial chapters contrasts the iconic
persona of Eastwood with that of the
towering figure of John Wayne (who also
worked across genres) and addresses each
mans contribution to the cult of cinematic
masculinity.
Frank Sinatra was an icon in the worlds of
both American popular music and motion
pictures for much of the twentieth century.
In When Frankie Went to Hollywood: Frank
Sinatra and American Male Identity, Karen
McNally delivers one of the first substantial
cultural analyses of this complicated,
mercurial entertainer. Looking at the years
from 1944 to 1966, McNally theorizes on
five aspects of Sinatras masculinity and its
context in U.S. society: his working-class
roots, his Italian American cultural identity,
his civil rights activism, the vulnerability of
his persona and its connection to damaged
World War II veterans, and his swingin
bachelor/Rat Pack iconography. Although
McNally focuses on Sinatras films, she
also uses his relationship with the media,
political activity, star image, and recording
and extra-cinematic performing career to
make her argument. All of these made up
Sinatras persona and his relationship to
the culture at large. McNally also explores
Sinatras career trajectory in relationship
to contemporaneous U.S. culture and the
appeal of Sinatra to various populations.
February 2014

Jacqueline Reich explores the mystique

behind one of the most iconic Italian
actors of the twentieth century in Beyond
the Latin Lover: Marcello Mastroianni,
Masculinity, and Italian Cinema. In this
theoretical study, the author places the
actor in the context of the anti-hero,
claiming that his uber-masculinity was
simply a faade that was acknowledged on
the screen. Reich considers Mastroianni
throughout his long career and
demonstrates how his masculine persona
was impacted by his aging and by his
female co-stars.
The final star to receive an
extraordinary treatment in relationship
to cinematic masculinity is landmark
comedian Richard Pryor. In Richard
Pryor: The Life and Legacy of a Crazy
Black Man, editor Audrey Thomas
McCluskey assembled a substantial
number of critical essays on this influential
twentieth-century American comedian.
This collection attempts to give Pryor his
due by considering the ways in which he
influenced not only comedy but also U.S.
television and entertainment as political
statement. Essays are divided into four
sections: New Essays, Biography,
Reviews, and Social and Cultural
Criticism. McCluskey herself is the most
significant contributor to the volume. Her
analysis of Pryor as both comic genius
and tortured soul, her description of the
censorship of his influential 1977 television
series (The Richard Pryor Show), and her
interview with frequent Pryor director
Michael Schultz illustrate both her fine
writing skills and her understanding of the
importance of this seminal figure.
These studies of Eastwood, Sinatra,
and Pryor demonstrate that there is
much work left to do. Richard Dyer laid
the groundwork with Stars in 1980, yet
contemporary scholars have been slow
(or perhaps resistant) in attempting to
examine pivotal cinematic figures and
their relationship to popular culture.
To do this work is indeed daring, and
since there is often little research or
published scholarship to borrow from, it is
exploratory. The recent demise of stardom
in American cinema and its replacement
with special effects is perhaps one subject
that needs to be addressed.

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Masculinity, Race,
and Ethnicity
In considerations of race and cinematic
masculinity, studies that concern African
American men (who tend to be racialized)
have been the most prevalent. In Pretty
People: Movie Stars of the 1990s, edited by
Anna Everett, Melvin Donaldsons essay
Denzel Washington: A Revisionist Black
Masculinity delivers a formidable analysis
of Washingtons cinematic roles and his
good guy persona before his Academy
Award-winning turn in Training Day.
Keith Harriss Boys, Boyz, Bois: An Ethics
of Black Masculinity in Film and Popular
Media promotes an ethics of masculinity
in regard to race in popular culture. Mel
Watkinss Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times
of Lincoln Perry is a long-overdue but
flawed work on one of the most recognized
African American actors of the first half
of the twentieth century. Though at
times Watkinss defense of the comedian
is strident, he successfully balances the
demonization of Fetchit within black
cultural studies with a more complete
understanding of the institutional limits that
the actor was working under.
Three critically well-received recent
volumes have focused on Asian or Asian
American masculinity in film. Celine
Parreas Shimizus Straitjacket Sexualities:
Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in
the Movies is unique. The vast majority
of studies on racialized masculinity have
been theoretical and descriptive, rather
than prescriptive, as this work attempts
to be. Shimizu argues for cinematic
representations, establishing relations that
form the basis of an ethical manhood that
cares for self and others. Conscious of the
asexual/effeminate/homosexual paradigm
that restrains depictions of Asian American
manhood (the straightjacket sexualities),
the author calls not for a cinematic
reconstruction that replaces these stereotypes
with tropes of masculine, heterosexual
domination but instead for one that accepts
lack as strength. Shimizu deals with a
broad range of subject matter, including
stars (Bruce Lee and Jason Scott Lee) and
the institutional genres of independent,
pornographic, and Hollywood films.
In Celluloid Comrades: Representations
of Male Homosexuality in Contemporary

Chinese Cinemas, Song Hwee Lim explores

representations of male homosexuality
in contemporary Chinese cinema. Lim
introduces readers to a range of recent
Chinese films and provides in-depth
analysis of each. The author does not offer
the book as a survey of gay representation
in Chinese cinema; instead, he poses
a number of provocative questions to
consider when approaching this subject.
In a sense, he is laying the groundwork for
the next generation of scholars in this field.
Lim challenges Western constructions of
homosexuality and Chineseness, thus
problematizing the parameters of gender
theory and nationality. Lims seemingly
limitless knowledge of scholarship on his
subject gives him remarkable authority
when considering such films as The Wedding
Banquet, Farewell My Concubine, and
Happy Together. Thus, Lim demonstrates
how concepts of nationhood, gender,
and sexual orientation are inseparable,
particularly when discussing cinematic
masculinity. Kin-Yan Szeto examines
the work of three important transnational
Chinese directors in The Martial Arts
Cinema of the Chinese Diaspora: Ang Lee,
John Woo, and Jackie Chan in Hollywood.
These men enjoy international appeal, and
Szeto is interested in concepts of identity,
arguing that the men reflect cosmopolitan
consciousness yet also Chineseness.

Masculinity and
Sexual Identity
Though much important work on
queer individuals and cinema has been
completed recently, perhaps some of the
most interesting research has been on the
traditional icon of American cinemathe
white heterosexual man. In Extra-Ordinary
Men: White Heterosexual Masculinity in
Contemporary Popular Cinema, Nicola
Rehling contemplates a number of significant
issues in relationship to white heterosexual
masculinity in film, including the white male
body, cyber-fantasy, cross-dressing, wiggers
(i.e., white males emulating black hip-hop
culture), and serial killers. She argues that
such fare is far more complex than it is
given credit for, and their ability to indicate
collective anxieties and desires, as well as
ideological conflict make them important

texts to interrogate. Her discussion of

Quentin Tarantino takes the director to task,
and her take on his gangster films and their
incorporation of black masculinity stands as
some of the finest work on the filmmaker.
The volumes major strength derives from
Rehlings remarkable knowledge of the theory
and debates among those working in cultural
studies. She argues that white heterosexual
masculinity continues to be the dominant
identity, but that it is also haunted by the
anxiety that it is a vacuous identity. Rehlings
use of Judith Butler, queer theory, critical race
theory, whiteness studies, and masculinity
theory in conjunction with contemporary,
popular Hollywood cinema makes this an
important volume.
The notion of queerness within
studies of cinematic masculinity is a point
of contention among film scholars, and
this is clearly evident in Scott Balcerzaks
Buffoon Men: Classic Hollywood Comedians
and Queered Masculinity. Masculinity and
gender studies scholars and some queer
theory scholars have taken the notion
of queer to reflect non-normative,
anti-hegemonic notions of masculinity.
Unfortunately, this term has been broadened
to the extent that it also simply means
different. Buffoon Men is a brilliant study
of non-normative comedians in the period
from 1930 to 1945, but the term queered
is problematic in describing characters
and actions that are far removed from any
notion of homosexuality or non-normative
masculine ideals.
Because white straight males have been
the protagonists in the vast majority of
American motion pictures, in the identity
politics culture of the late twentieth
century, they remained largely ignored in
film studies except as victimizers. Hetero:
Queering Representations of Straightness,
edited by Sean Griffin, gathers essays from
a number of respected film theorists who
attempt to take queer theory and apply it
to cinematic heterosexuality. The books
diverse contributions include observations
on star images (William Haines, Ben
Stiller), national cinemas (Swedish, Indian,
Yiddish American), and individual films
(Home from the Hill, A Free Soul). Griffin
and fellow contributors David Gerstner,
Michael DeAngelis, and Harry Benshoff
(among other prominent scholars) prove
that the analytical tools of queer theory are
substantial and revelatory, and should not

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be ghettoized to films that feature gay or

transgender characters. They demonstrate
that the overlaps and contradictions of
heterosexuality and heteronormativity are
not straightforward and simple and thus
are a contested terrain.
Hetero: Queering Representations of
Straightness, edited by Sean Griffin, shows
that there is no clear line of demarcation
between gender studies, queer studies,
whiteness studies, and a number of other
critical cultural studies paradigms that have
emerged in the past thirty years. This is
quite apparent in Roger Hallass Reframing
Bodies: AIDS, Bearing Witness, and the Queer
Moving Image. In this intriguing book,
Hallas successfully accomplishes two goals.
First, he introduces the reader to a body of
AIDS activist videos (as distinguished from
mainstream Hollywood productions such
as Philadelphia) produced from the mid1980s to the early 2000s; second, he applies
contemporary film theory to these films in
a sophisticated yet relatable manner. The
author contextualizes films influenced by
organizations like ACT UP (for example,
Voices from the Front; Fight Back, Fight
AIDS) and directed by independent,
experimental filmmakers and activists
(e.g., John Greysons Zero Patience) in the
historical trauma of the 1980s-90s and
demonstrates how they were used to bear
witness, utilized for mourning and calls
for militancy. Masculinity, homosexuality,
activism, and responsible behavior were
all constructions of behavioral anxiety in
relationship to AIDS, and Hallass attempt
to demonstrate the crisis of representation
that was engendered by AIDS through
documentary work is groundbreaking.

Conclusion
Those working in cinema studies have
witnessed an outpouring of challenging,
interesting work on masculinity and film
in the past decade. Those volumes that
are most successful incorporate theory and
methodological tools from a variety of
disciplines yet remain both relevant and
readable. What doomed much work in
the late twentieth century were books in
which the author spoke only to a narrow
body of those working in the field who
talked the talk but refused to leave the
narrow confines of their theoretical schools.
February 2014

The fresh new studies that have emerged

demonstrate that much new work needs to
be completed on star personages, emerging
subgenres, nationalist (and perhaps global)
cinemas, and YouTube culture. Technology
has rapidly changed how motion pictures
are delivered. There have also been two
divergent trends in regard to distribution
and reception: the increasing importance
of globalization to the overall market, and
the emergence of regional production
and distribution networks (for example,
Bollywood and Nollywood). The impact
of these trends on depictions of cinematic
masculinity needs to be addressed by those
working in the field. The talent is certainly
out there.

Works Cited
Anderson, Eric. Inclusive Masculinity: The Changing Nature of Masculinities. Routledge, 2009
(CH, Feb10, 47-3232).
Balcerzak, Scott. Buffoon Men: Classic Hollywood
Comedians and Queered Masculinity. Wayne
State, 2013 (CH, Feb14, 51-xxxx).
Chopra-Gant, Mike. Hollywood Genres and Postwar America: Masculinity, Family and Nation
in Popular Movies and Film Noir. I. B. Tauris
(distrib. by Palgrave Macmillan), 2006.
Cornell, Drucilla. Clint Eastwood and Issues of
American Masculinity. Fordham, 2009 (CH,
Dec09, 47-1897).
Dyer, Richard. Stars. BFI, 1980.
Eberwein, Robert. Armed Forces: Masculinity and
Sexuality in the American War Film. Rutgers,
2007 (CH, Feb08, 45-3105).
Fouz-Hernndez, Santiago, and Alfredo Martnez-Expsito. Live Flesh: The Male Body in
Contemporary Spanish Cinema. I. B. Tauris,
2007 (CH, Apr08, 45-4265).
Gallagher, Mark. Action Figures: Men, Action
Films, and Contemporary Adventure Narratives. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006 (CH,
Nov06, 44-1428).
Gerstner, David A. Manly Arts: Masculinity and
the Nation in Early American Cinema. Duke,
2006 (CH, Dec06, 44-2018).
____. Queer Pollen: White Seduction, Black Male
Homosexuality, and the Cinematic. Illinois,
2011 (CH, Oct11, 49-0717).
Ging, Debbie. Men and Masculinities in Irish
Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013 (CH,
Sep13, 51-0172).

February 2014

Global Perspectives on Tarzan: From King of the

Jungle to International Icon, ed. by Annette
Wannamaker and Michelle Ann Abate. Routledge, 2012 (CH, Oct12, 50-0657).
Grant, Barry Keith. Shadows of Doubt: Negotiations of Masculinity in American Genre Films.
Wayne State, 2011 (CH, Jun11, 48-5583).
Greven, David. Manhood in Hollywood from Bush
to Bush. Texas, 2009 (CH, Jun10, 47-5540).

tity. Illinois, 2008 (CH, Sep08, 46-0162).

Millennial Masculinity: Men in Contemporary
American Cinema, ed. by Timothy Shary.
Wayne State, 2013 (CH, Sep13, 51-0178).
Moser, Joseph Paul. Irish Masculinity on Screen:
The Pugilists and Peacemakers of John Ford, Jim
Sheridan, and Paul Greengrass. McFarland,
2013.

Hallas, Roger. Reframing Bodies: AIDS, Bearing

Witness, and the Queer Moving Image. Duke
University, 2010 (CH, Aug10, 47-6757).

Peberdy, Donna. Masculinity and Film Performance: Male Angst in Contemporary American
Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 (CH,
Mar12, 49-3764).

Harris, Keith M. Boys, Boyz, Bois: An Ethics of

Black Masculinity in Film and Popular Media.
Routledge, 2006.

Performing Masculinity, ed. by Rainer Emig and

Antony Rowland. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
(CH, Jan11, 48-2466).

Haynes, John. New Soviet Man: Gender and Masculinity in Stalinist Soviet Cinema. Manchester
University Press, 2003.

Perriam, Chris. Stars and Masculinities in Spanish

Cinema: From Banderas to Bardem. Oxford,
2003 (CH, Nov03, 41-1453).

Hetero: Queering Representations of Straightness,

ed. by Sean Griffin. SUNY Press, 2009 (CH,
Dec09, 47-1898).

Pretty People: Movie Stars of the 1990s, ed. by

Anna Everett. Rutgers, 2012 (CH, Nov12,
50-1365).

Hollywoods West: The American Frontier in Film,

Television and History, ed. by Peter C. Rollins
and John E. OConnor. University Press of
Kentucky, 2005 (CH, Jun06, 43-5796).

Rehling, Nicola. Extra-Ordinary Men: White

Heterosexual Masculinity in Contemporary Popular Cinema. Lexington Books, 2009 (CH,
Aug09, 46-6699).

Hughes, Howard. Aim for the Heart: The Films

of Clint Eastwood. I. B. Tauris, 2009 (CH,
Mar10, 47-3692).

Reich, Jacqueline. Beyond the Latin Lover: Marcello Mastroianni, Masculinity, and Italian Cinema. Indiana, 2004 (CH, Oct04, 42-0841).

Kessler, Kelly. Destabilizing the Hollywood Musical:

Music, Masculinity and Mayhem. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 (CH, Jun11, 48-5588).

Richard Pryor: The Life and Legacy of a Crazy

Black Man, ed. by Audrey Thomas McCluskey.
Indiana, 2008 (CH, Mar09, 46-3729).

Kord, Susanne, and Elisabeth Krimmer. Contemporary Hollywood Masculinities: Gender, Genre,
and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 (CH,
Aug12, 49-6776).

Rocha, Carolina. Masculinities in Contemporary

Argentine Popular Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Lehman, Peter, and Susan Hunt. Lady Chatterleys

Legacy in the Movies: Sex, Brains, and Body
Guys. Rutgers, 2010 (CH, Apr11, 48-4372).
Lim, Song Hwee. Celluloid Comrades: Representations of Male Homosexuality in Contemporary
Chinese Cinemas. Hawaii, 2006 (CH, Apr07,
44-4358).
Mazierska, Ewa. Masculinities in Polish, Czech
and Slovak Cinema: Black Peters and Men of
Marble. Berghan Books, 2008 (CH, May09,
46-4920).
MacKinnon, Kenneth. Love, Tears, and the Male
Spectator. Fairleigh Dickinson; Associated University Presses, 2002 (CH, Mar03, 40-3907).

Screening Genders, ed. and introd. by Krin Gabbard and William Luhr. Rutgers, 2008 (CH,
Dec08, 46-1975).
Sellier, Genevive. Masculine Singular: French
New Wave Cinema, tr. by Kristin Ross. Duke
University, 2008 (CH, Jul08, 45-6065).
Shimizu, Celine Parreas. Straitjacket Sexualities:
Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the
Movies. Stanford, 2012 (CH, Oct12, 500771).
Szeto, Kin-Yan. The Martial Arts Cinema of the
Chinese Diaspora: Ang Lee, John Woo, and
Jackie Chan in Hollywood. Southern Illinois,
2011 (CH, Dec11, 49-1966).

McGillis, Roderick. He Was Some Kind of a Man:

Masculinities in the B Western. Wilfrid Laurier,
2009 (CH, Apr10, 47-4315).

The Trouble with Men: Masculinities in European

and Hollywood Cinema, ed. by Phil Powrie,
Ann Davies, and Bruce Babington. Wallflower, 2004 (CH, Sep05, 43-0209).

McNally, Karen. When Frankie Went to Hollywood: Frank Sinatra and American Male Iden-

Vernon, Alex. On Tarzan. Georgia, 2008 (CH,

May09, 46-4814).

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Watkins, Mel. Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times

of Lincoln Perry. Pantheon Books, 2005 (CH,
Mar06, 43-3936).
Yates, Candida. Masculine Jealousy and Contemporary Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
(CH, May08, 45-4884).

Films Cited
2001: A Space Odyssey. Directed by Stanley
Kubrick. MGM, 1968.
Almost Famous. Directed by Cameron Crowe.
Dreamworks, 2000.
Any Given Sunday. Directed by Oliver Stone.
Warner Bros., 1999.
Brokeback Mountain. Directed by Ang Lee.
Focus Features, 2005.
Broken Blossoms. Directed by D. W. Griffith. D.
W. Griffith Productions, 1919.
Casualties of War. Directed by Brian De Palma.
Columbia Pictures, 1989.
The End of the Affair. Directed by Neil Jordan.
Columbia Pictures, 1999.
Farewell My Concubine. Directed by Kaige Chen.
Beijing Film Studio, 1993.
Fight Back, Fight AIDS: Fifteen Years of ACT
UP. Directed by James Wentzy. Frameline
Distributors [distributor], 1992.

Gilda. Directed by Charles Vidor. Columbia

Pictures, 1946.

Scarlet Street. Directed by Fritz Lang. Fritz Lang

Productions, 1945.

Happy Together. Directed by Kar Wei Wong.

Block 2 Pictures, 1997.

Sideways. Directed by Alexander Payne. Fox

Searchlight Pictures, 2004.

Home from the Hill. Directed by Vincente

Minnelli. MGM, 1960.

The Silence of the Lambs. Directed by Jonathan

Demme. Strong Heart/Demme Production,
1991.

The Lord of the Rings. Directed by Peter Jackson.

New Line Cinema, 2001-2003.
Magnolia. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Ghoulardi Film Company, 1999.
The Matrix. Directed by Andy Wachowski and
Lana Wachowski. Warner Bros., 1999, 2003.
The Men. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Stanley
Kramer Productions, 1950.
Milk. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Focus Features,
2008.
Night of the Living Dead. Directed by George A.
Romero. Image Ten, 1968.
The Omega Man. Directed by Boris Sagal.
Walter Seltzer Productions, 1971.
The Passion of the Christ. Directed by Mel
Gibson. Icon Productions, 2004.
A Perfect Murder. Directed by Andrew David.
Warner Bros., 1998.
The Piano. Directed by Jane Campion.
Australian Film Commission, 1993.

Spiderman. Trilogy, 2002-07, directed by Sam

Raimi; The Amazing Spiderman, 2012, directed
by Marc Webb. Columbia Pictures.
Still Crazy. Directed by Brian Gibson. Columbia
Pictures, 1998.
A Streetcar Named Desire. Directed by Elia
Kazan. Charles K. Feldman Group, 1951.
Sunset Boulevard. Directed by Billy Wilder.
Paramount Pictures, 1950.
Taxi Driver. Directed by Martin Scorsese.
Columbia Pictures, 1976.
Training Day. Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Warner Bros., 2001.
Two Moon Junction. Directed by Zalman King.
DDM Film Corporation, 1988.
Unfaithful. Directed by Adrian Lyne. Fox 2000
Pictures, 2002.
Velvet Goldmine. Directed by Todd Haynes.
Channel Four Films, 1998.

Fight Club. Directed by David Fincher. Fox

2000 Pictures, 1999.

Point Break. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. JVC

Entertainment Networks, 1991.

Voices from the Front. Directed by Sandra Elgear,

Robyn Hutt, David Meieran. Testing the
Limits, 2004.

A Free Soul. Directed by Clarence Brow. MGM,

1931.

Rear Window. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Paramount Pictures, 1954.

The Wedding Banquet. Directed by Ang Lee. Ang

Lee Productions, 1993.

From Here to Eternity. Directed by Fred

Zinnemann. Columbia Pictures, 1953.

Red River. Directed by Howard Hawks and Arthur

Rosson. Charles K. Feldman Group, 1948.

Zero Patience. Directed by John Greyson. Zero

Patience Productions, 1993.

The Getaway. Directed by Sam Peckinpah. Fine

Artists, 1972.

Rock Star. Directed by Stephen Herek. Warner

Bros., 2001.

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February 2014