Masculinity In Movies

Masculinity: the definition of how a real man is suppose to act. The specific traits and behaviors that are associated with masculinity have changed drastically over the decades, and even over just a few years. These ideas have completely flipped around, changing from a masculine man being kind, respectful to women, and well groomed to being messy, rude, and disrespectful. The representation of masculinity has been negatively influenced through multiple types of media by including the wrong ideas of male dominance. Modern movies often negatively influence masculinity by how they portray certain characters. In almost all the movies that are released nowadays, people notice that the protagonist or main character is male. It doesn’t matter
When popular songs are playing on the radio, most of the time people pay attention to who is singing the song and not the message they are sending through the lyrics of the song. Over the past decade, the lyrics, type of artists, and meaning of the lyrics have changed drastically for the worse. The songs nowadays are starting to send messages that are encouraging actions that should not be. One song that displays this very well is “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem ft. Rihanna, specifically when Eminem says “Now you're in each others face spewing venom in your words when you spit 'em / You push, pull each other's hair, scratch, claw, bit 'em / Throw 'em down, pin 'em / So lost in the moments, when you're in 'em / It's the rage that took over / It controls you both” (Grant). In this section of the song, Eminem is referencing a man starting a fight with his woman and not being able to stop because there is nothing else on his mind but that. Another song that display bad messages is the song “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell Williams when Robin Thicke sings “Tried to domesticate you / But you're an animal / Baby, it's in your nature / Just let me liberate you / You don't need no papers / That man is not your maker / And that's why I'm gon' take a / Good girl” (Thicke). At this point in the song, Robin Thicke is saying that he is trying to control her and make her do what he wants regardless of what she wants. These two songs are written by two different artists that have completely different pasts, but the songs are similar in meaning. Their songs are both about men taking control of women, all because the only supposed way to “to keep manhood, [is to] remain aggressive” (Dye). Men do not feel masculine when they are not the one’s in control, so they do whatever they need to, regardless if it’s a good idea or not, to achieve that.