Can you deconstruct and offer an answer to the question?
- Magic Mike XXL does not defy the stereotypical role of men
in film to a larger extent based on many factors such as the fact that they
still have main focus of the film being the physical attributes and how all the
men that are lead roles have fit bodies that suggests strength which is an
important part of the masculine trait. Also, they are still seen as the
breadwinners in the film regardless of how they earn the money and camera
angles such as low angle shots also suggest a sense of power. However, there
are also elements in the film that emasculates men and this is because of the
fact that in this film they are more in touch with their emotions and have
goals and dreams to achieve which is usually seen as a more feminine thing to
do. The fact that they show of their body which is a suggested of strength but
nothing in the film suggests actions of violence, which is emphasises when two
characters are fighting but only verbally. Another scene also shows a character
plucking their eyebrows which is not typical of a traditional masculine male.
How are men typically represented in Hollywood cinema?
- In Hollywood cinema men are typically represented as macho
with a strong physique. They are often portrayed as strong and aggressive within
the film which contributes to the role that they play in order to get the
message across to the audience that they are a dominant figure that has control
of the situation. However, there has been a slight change in how this is
portrayed in terms of appearance over the years. In the past men have been able
to present this masculine trait through clothing that suggest a sense of
authority in the sense that they wear suits but nowadays it is presented
through the lack of clothing or very tightly fitted clothing to outline the
masculine figure which indicates to the audience that there is a sense of power
and strength within the character.
The Magic Mike films focus on a group of male strippers. How
might you expect the film to both challenge and reinforce traditional masculine
stereotypes.
- The film reinforces Masculine stereotypes by having the
male actors be grown men who have strong, fit, muscular bodies which is
emphasises throughout the film which suggest that they keep up with their
bodies and are regularly at the gym which is a typically masculine thing to do.
It also shows them being the breadwinner since being a stripper does in result
is a form of a job and in some degree they do have control over what happens
especially on stage. However, it challenges traditional masculine stereotypes in
the sense that the men are there for the pleasure of their female audience both
within and outside the film. In the film you also see that they do get
emotional which is not typical in the past when it came to the representation
of males in films such as The Godfather.
Thinking about the wider context, what impact might
gender stereotypes have on society in general?
- The impact that gender stereotypes have on a society in
general is that they influence how the audience take in information that is
given to them based on what is portrayed about gender in films. Films can
influence an audience’s idea of how certain genders should be like in the way
they act and look which is seen through the changes over the years in films.
What kind of media concepts and theories could be covered
in this critical investigation?
- The key media theories that this topic of discussion could
be linked to the idea of female gaze which was introduced by Rosalind Gill as a
way to indicate that there has been a change in the way men are being portrayed
in the media. This shows that men are now also being portrayed as sexual
objects to an extent in an attempt to equalize the initial theory of the male
gaze where females are put in a movie to be seen as objects and to attract a
male audience.
What linked production piece
could work with a critical investigation like this?
- I think that a linked production piece that could work
with this critical investigation would be a magazine cover with 2 detailed
double page spread in order to go in depth with the topic of discussion and
that challenges the readers thoughts and views on the representation of the
masculine figure in films maybe with the added comparison of the past and
present representations and added idea/suggestion on how future representations
of men will be like.809 Words
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