Masculinity In David Fincher's Fight Club

Response The documentaries Tough Guys and Killing us Softly, really brought to light the way masculinity and femininity are represented in our society. The characteristics and associations that are made when these words are thought of are bizarre and not natural. I strongly believe that both masculinity and femininity are learned characteristics from the human environment. I often wonder if people would even have these ideas and characteristics that are associated with gender in the beginning of time, or if people have slowly began to define and differentiate the genders throughout the evolution of time.

Connell’s contributions to the understanding of masculinity in society are numerous; however, a select few ideas are most closely related to the short story.” In order to gain a clear idea of how the concepts relate to the prose, one must first develop an understanding of the core arguments. Connell’s primary argument that “‘Masculinity’ does not exist except in contrast with ‘femininity’” (Connell 252) calls to attention the nature of gender practice. Connell essentially argues that masculinity is a result of a perceived lesser definition of persons that can be distinctly summed up by one word.

The Creed by Ryan Coogler is a movie about a person who want to find his memories through the death of his father. His name is Donnie. The film is mostly a story of Donnie on the way become a champion of World Heavyweight by the support of Rocky; who was his father friend and rival. Ryan created a Donnie character who is a strongest boy with wonderful dream and overcome challenges. However, it relates to a speech on Tedtalk by McKelley about “Unmasking Masculinity”.

People often have an opinion of how a man should be or act, they have a perceived image of what is to be a man. These themes of masculinity are present within Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Macbeth and Holden Caulfield, both struggle with their masculinity and “being a man”.

Within Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Saving Private Ryan, we are given two different examples of what it means to possess masculine tendencies. Depending on whom you ask, the definition of what it is to be masculine can vary. From what we have learned from Bird’s article, “Welcome to the Men’s Club: Homosociality and the Maintenance of Hegemonic Masculinity”, is that in order to be masculine, one must be able to be detached and possess a sense of independence (125). As for the article written by Schrock & Schwalbe, “Men, Masculinity, and Manhood Acts”, we are presented with the idea of gender roles. The article goes on to discuss how men have to act a certain way in order to be perceived as masculine (278).

However; while he is seen as a macho man, Deyoung and Zeglery defines masculinity as something that “involves invulnerability, courage, and honor” (Asencio 17). He does not symbolize any of the traits of masculinity.

Ta’s, Hurt So Good: Fight Club, Masculine Violence, and the Crisis of Capitalism, she discusses how the narrator and Tyler, who we learn at the end of the movie are the same person, create this Fight Club because they are feeling like their masculinity is at stake. She backs this up by bringing up the fact that the narrator, who she calls “Jack,” goes to different support groups where he is surrounded by people that allow him to act less masculine. The first group we see him attend is called, “Remaining Men Together,” where men who have or have had testicular cancer go to express their feelings, she recounts this as an example of her claim because “Jack” becomes a regular attendee even though he does not have nor has he ever had testicular cancer. He just goes to have somewhere he can let his emotions out.

However, despite being “unsure of their futures, with nowhere to direct their anger and no one to assuage their fears” (GEN X – SITE SOURCE), the characteristic of Generation X which really draws parallels to Palahniuk’s novel is the high divorce rate of the time. The impact of an influential feminized society is yet again bolstered by the norm of a woman being in complete control as a result of fathers leaving the household. In the novel, Jack mentions his absent father, and thus begins seeing a father figure in Tyler after having lacked strong male models whilst growing up. To the cohort of members in Fight Club feeling effeminate as a result, Tyler concludes that they are a “generation of men raised by women” (PAGE), further nourishing the men’s desire to fight and express their wrath to regain their identities. Due to their upbringing, the men in Fight Club lack a masculine portrayal, and hence idealize Tyler as the sole example of what masculinity should be.

Introduction In the Western world, majority of the movies are normally preoccupied with the notion of masculinity that depict men as being the dominant gender with roles requiring them to exhibit male behavior, such as providing for family and fighting, while the women the inferior gender with roles requiring them to exhibit female behavior, such as supporting the husband despite his shortcomings. Anne Lee in his modern Western movie Brokeback Mountain (IMDb, 2015) represents masculinity in different relationships: masculinity as depicted by men who want to be in a relationship with women and masculinity as depicted by men who want to be in the same-sex relationship. In this movie opinions divide significantly concerning masculinity especially when looking at Ennis and Jack who are two gay cowboys trying to be in a secret homosexual relationship. In what follows, we will examine the representation of relationships of traditional Western masculinity in the movie

Masculinity. It can be argued that no one word has undergone such a dramatic shift during the past century, as masculinity. In many ways J.D. Salinger’s groundbreaking novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, and its main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, were both ahead of their time as they realized masculinity could not have a uniform definition. The reader is led on a journey by Holden, from fancy prep schools to the tough streets of New York City, all in the search for one thing: the meaning of masculinity. Holden’s search for identity culminates in his failure to conform to societal standards of masculinity, allowing Salinger to effectively question the need for such strict standards which seemingly only inhibit personal growth.

I chose to rewatch a film for my observation. The film I watched was “Fight Club”. This film is an example of the complete opposite of US cultural values. It focuses on destroying material comfort and individuality. The narrator who was once a man driven by material possessions is completely changed by Tyler Durden a man who is fuelled by chaos.

This paper is going to be analyzing the documentary, Tough Guise 2, in relation to the movie, Fight club. Tough Guise 2 presented by Jackson Katz, analyzes violence caused by men as he questions why men act as they do. Katz’s goal is to raise awareness of the avoidance of toxic masculinity by teaching what he believes a “real man” is perceived as. Fight Club directed by David Fincher, is an example of the ultimate toxic masculinity Tough Guise 2 argues against. Both the movie and the documentary discuss how a man's influences, the importance of fitting in, and mental state play a role in violence.

It is quite annoying that being a man is related to toughness, machoism and any thing that is related to being violent. The question comes up: What if all the men does not want this? Do they really have to take the risk of being called as ‘sissy’? The question is impossible to answer it but for Jack, one can say that, yes, he wants to be like Tyler, one of his alter ego.

There are many different ways that reader can choose to interpret a literary work that they are reading or examining. The Freudian lens is one of the many tools that helps reader understand the in depth meaning of the main characters through their behaviors, characteristics, actions and their surroundings. Fight Club, a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, can also be interpreted by using the Freudian theory to analyze the main character, Joe (the narrator) and his discreet personality, Tyler Durden. The story is about the narrator’s depressing life in which he has been suffering from reality, until he has created another personality that represents his desire. In Fight Club, the narrator’s traits of aggressiveness, his desire and his sense of

Masculinity (also called boyhood, manliness or manhood) is a set of attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with boys and men. But the culture doesn’t end at the definition, it starts from there. The first thing to come to mind when the word masculinity is heard is usually a man flexing his gigantic muscles, as the word might sound to suggest, and that right there is the current culture of masculinity because sadly, in the world we live in, not everyone has a “muscular body”. So far we know the concept of masculinity, but the culture is what is truly hampering.