Real men never get paper cuts. Also, real men walk on the left side of the street, and they don’t fall asleep on airplanes.
Ah, the joys of arbitrary masculinity.
As this series of ads (directed by Errol Morris) at Sociological Images points out, advertising benefits quite a bit from a standard of masculinity that is never quite clear. As long as men are convinced that masculinity is superior to femininity, and that they will lose status by acting feminine, men can be endlessly manipulated by whoever has the authority to tell them what it means to act “masculine.” All advertisers have to do to sell their product is convince men that the most “masculine” thing to do is drink their brand of beer, or buy their car, or vote for the dude who is going to take us to war and kill a million people.
In the process of this advertising, the idea that “masculinity” is better than “femininity” is reinforced once again, creating a culture where the most effective advertising plays into this belief. And on and on it goes, until we get off our asses and change it.
To break it down, here are the messages men are getting from these ads:
“Gossip”: Being a real man is good. Being a woman is bad. Being a real man means being disrespectful of women’s thoughts and desires.
“Boat”: Being a real man means being totally dominant at everything, never needing help, and always knowing what to do. If a man does not have these qualities, other men will ridicule him.
And, as you all know, being a real man means having lots and lots of sex with lots and lots of women.
Simply stir for a lovely rape culture.
And to digress just a little, why am I expected to recognize Errol Morris, who directed this load of fail, as a great filmmaker? How is it that complete misogynist turdbombs are presented to me like this:
Roger Ebert has said, “After twenty years of reviewing films, I haven’t found another filmmaker who intrigues me more…Errol Morris is like a magician, and as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini.”
While female directors can’t even get funded?
Why, why, why did I have to watch Roman Polanski and Woody Allen movies in my “Great American Film” class?
How is it possible that misogyny is so accepted that we actually revere artists who blatantly express hatred of women in their art and personal lives?
Given the fact that we live in a patriarchy, that women constitute only 19% of film writers and 4% of film directors, that men outnumber women onscreen about 2 to 1, and that no one can even seem to hire a woman to be the damn voiceover on a trailer, it seems to me that it’s an act of basic self preservation to avoid most movies… So why do people think I’m some sort of uncultured killjoy when I say I haven’t seen the latest installation of Rape Culture: The Movie?
Well, that’s rape culture too. And you know what? I think calling Errol “intriguing magician” Morris a misogynist turdbomb is just fine.
Ashley, this is interesting. I am disappointed to see that these commercials come from Morris, because I actually do appreciate him as a filmmaker. I thought that Standard Operating Procedure was a really compelling documentary about what happened at Abu Ghraib (though not without its faults as well) and have enjoyed some of his other films in the past. But it is, of course, not really about Morris–it is about all of the male artists who again and again put forth “great works of art” that are racist, misogynist, etc. I have found myself struggling over and over–can one appreciate Chinatown as a great film without remembering what Polanski did? Can one read consider the Heart of Darkness to truly be great literature considering the blatant racism? Can I really read one more damn Philip Roth novel, knowing that he will never ever write a female character that exists as anything other than a sexual object to be mused upon by the male protagonist? I really haven’t come up with answers to these questions yet. I live in a world that has always (and still does) prized the work of men over that of women. And this fills me with anger, as I continue to watch male directors/writers/and artists continue to dominate popular culture, to put forth their very one-sided views of the world. But still…still I am a student of literature, a viewer of films…how do I negotiate these issues while still enjoying a particular book or movie? I don’t know…
Ashley, you make some great points about Masculinity and how it is being skewed. But I think you need to focus more of the fact that almost ALL media in America portrays an idea of hyper-masculinity and it is getting worse as we speak. Jackson Katz, a world renowned activist and speaker on this subject discusses the difference between media of today and that of the 60′s. For instance, he discusses the character of Batman and what the first images of batman looked like, compared to now. The size of the character and his weapons are much bigger and promote an idea of hyper-masculinity. Please, if you haven’t already, watch Jackson Katz’s documentary “Tough Guise” or read his book “The Macho Paradox”. He speaks on what you are talking about to a “T”.
Best,
Dave