Men On Film

By
Heidi
 – June 24, 2011Posted in: Columns, Rogue Cinema

As part of this week’s discussion on “Mature Masculinity,” I thought I’d take a closer look at films and television shows that depict men grappling with questions of identity and what it means to be a man in the modern world. As we’ve discussed this week, those questions don’t have easy answers and so I decided not to look for idealized depictions of modern masculinity (hello Atticus), but films where I see questions of identity being asked and the roles men perform considered from different angles — these are fathers, partners and friends trying to figure out where they fit in the world. As always, feel free to add to my list (or disagree) — given in no particular order below.

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The Big Lebowski

The Dude’s world is filled with dinosaurs of masculinity — from loan shark pornographer Jackie Treehorne to Walter, an impotent Vietnam Vet filled with rage, or The Big Lebowski himself, a corrupt and crippled capitalist. Tellingly, the men in the film are not engaged with the modern world or with the women around them — to the few female characters in the movie, the men have limited uses as sperm donors, dog sitters or meal tickets. In one of the film’s best scenes the Cohen brothers slyly ask questions about male identity. Backed by Mozart’s Requiem, the Big Lebowski asks, “What makes a man, Mr. Lebowski? … Is it being prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost? Isn’t that what makes a man?” And The Dude quips, “Hmmm… Sure, that and a pair of testicles.”

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Fight Club

David Fincher’s 1999 film depicts a man literally fractured by the modern world. The nameless narrator is numb and finds himself disillusioned with the fruits of a safe materialistic world, the culmination of years of bloody struggles, imperialism and the triumph of traditional Western values. Embracing revolution and violence through Tyler Durden, the narrator wants to tear his identity and the safe world apart, but the movie leaves the audience questioning whether violence is the answer.

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Say Anything

Every smart girl’s high school crush, Lloyd Dobler, makes this list, not for his sensitivity or boom-box holding, but for his ability to talk to and truly enjoy the company of women and his willingness to take a backseat to the ambitions of his beloved.

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Mad Men

Mad Men’s nuanced portrayal of sexism and patriarchal culture in the 1960s (and, by extension, today) brilliantly shows how those forces shape our concepts of gender, identity and values. The outright glamour and beauty of the show (and the fetishizing of 1960s dress and decorating it has inspired) sometimes threatens to undo its lofty ambitions. Still, few shows boast more female characters with complex inner lives or a leading man who is so tied up in the questions of what it means to be a man as the world around you rapidly changes.

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Sopranos

Who better represents the conflicts of modern masculinity than the often savage, misogynistic and deeply conflicted Tony Soprano? In the framework provided by the patriarchal gangster world, the show brilliantly dissects violence, fidelity and identity.

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In Good Company

This small 2004 film sees Dennis Quaid as Dan Foreman, an advertisement sales executive at a high-ranking publication who finds himself suddenly placed under Carter Duryea (Topher Grace) who is half his age. Quaid gives a lovely, nuanced performance as a man trying to find his bearings as his world gets turned upside down and the identity he has forged for himself comes apart. Particularly touching is the father and son-type relationship that develops between Foreman and Duryea.

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Modern Family

As the name suggests, this consistently funny and touching sit-com gets a lot of mileage out of placing its characters into the very modern world of blended, homosexual and pluralistic families. What keeps the show interesting is its commitment to storytelling and creating layered, surprisingly complex, characters. Every single one is human and flawed, but those flaws are balanced out by their love for each other and their willingness to adapt. The show doesn’t skirt the mishaps and trials of modern life, but it continually embraces the idea that change is not something to fear.

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Up In The Air

Released in 2009, I think this film captures our current age better than other film except for The Social Network (2010). The film touches on larger themes of mass unemployment, cultural alienation and the way people use technology to create barriers between themselves and others, but ultimately, it’s really an existential character study. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a man who has defined himself by all the baggage he doesn’t carry. As a distant brother and no one’s partner, friend or husband, Bingham finds the limitations of modern, technologically driven life.

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