Cinematic Definitions of Masculinity in the West: the challenge of Jackie Chan’s Star Persona and his American Films
The film is a masterpiece tackling the most controversial beliefs regarding life and reality (or even abstract thoughts). Truly, this makes the film even more compelling. It presented claims and arguments that question the grounds of man’s existence as well as the possibilities of a multi-dimensional world. It wittingly disrupted the distinction between fact and fantasy as the movie transcended the audience to cross socially and culturally defined beliefs. The movie lures the viewers to think outside the confined notions of reality and existence by illustrating possible impossibilities.
Even though film do not have an interactive audience in terms of acting as compared to theatre (Benedetti 2001, 10), it could be said that there are billions of people who watch films. They find their personalities in the portrayals of the characters and relate their life experiences to the plot of the particular movies. Also, they empathize and sympathize with the fate of the characters. Viewers delight when the character in which they can associate themselves with are in good condition after a series of hardships and troubles. They are distressed when the character they adore dies or loses the fight (David 1990, 2-3). These are among the several reasons on why viewers who see the influences behind and surrounding filmmakers can more clearly and fully understand why films are presented in such ways.
According to Holmes, Zonn and Cravey (2004), masculinity is prominent in various cinematic genres, and notably so in the Western. After all, Westerns are not so much about the West as they are about the Westerner. He stands alone, heroic, powerful, and fighting to the end for justice and order. There is considerable diversity about what defines `masculinity’. For many writers, ‘masculine’ is simply what men `are’: it is what differentiates them from women (Bourke 1996). How men came to `be manly’ is more commonly assumed to be the product of socialization.
The Masculine Image during World War I
This discussion of masculinity will chronologically start during the First World War, since that time period, provides potentially interesting settings to test assumptions about divergent masculinities, men’s bodies, and cultural change. In Britain, more than five million men were active participants in this war. What is the impact of the Great War on masculinity and men’s bodies? Undeniably, many men regarded themselves as having been transformed by their encounter with warfare: many echoed the words of John M. Connor when he wrote in his diary for November 21st, 1914:
seeing your pals blown into bits, it makes a new man fellow in
spirit, moral & character … it will make many changed man
tell you, better men in every respect this war will [all sic].
The war-maimed were the most visible image of men’s bodies during WW1. What the soldiers experienced during this war irrevocably remoulded their experiences as they struggled to create new lives that challenged their status as physically disabled. Even men who were spared disfigurement found that military life enabled them to experiment with different masculine aesthetics. These were often linked to socio-economic class. For instance, in a diary entry in October 1918, Ralph Scott marveled over the way the war had altered the appearance of his hands:
I looked at my great murderous maulers and wondered idly
how they had evolved from the sensitive manicured fingers that
used to pen theses on `Colloidal Fuel’ and The Theory of Heat
Distribution in Cylinder Walls’. And I found the comparison
good.
sufficient.
According to many writers, male sexuality during this time, showed a relationship between war and homoeroticism. This is illustrated by the fact that soldiers spoke without hesitation of their love for their comrades. This language was a legacy of a host of factors like public schools and pre-war traditions such as pub culture, sporting clubs and the scouts. Despite this language, wartime experiences proved too traumatic to develop new forms of male intimacy. So-called male bonding was limited and contingent on a huge range of factors, fracturing along lines of personality, age, ethnicity, class and military unit.
Fast forward to the 1990’s and masculinity assumes a slightly different depiction. Wetzstein (1996) said that masculinity is in disrepute. In a sidelong and subliminal way, men have become the Evil Empire. . . . The `manly’ virtues (bravery, strength, discipline and, egad, machismo itself) remain admirable only by being quietly reassigned to women – to Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton, say.” In the pervasive media overexposed generation of the 1990’s, men’s cultural image remains mired in the barnyard. Their image, especially in advertising – especially radio ads – has degenerated. Before the 1990’s, men were portrayed as “know-it-alls,” but today “men are the buffoons and are portrayed as doltish. It is worst in radio shopping ads where the message being sent is that men “can’t be trusted” to go to the store.
An interesting change of image of masculinity happens in the new millennium as an advertising label – that of a metrosexual, puts another spin on the definition of masculinity. Metrosexuals are defined as muscular but suave, confident yet image-conscious, assertive yet clearly in touch with their feminine sides. For metrosexuals, substance is nothing without style. They are expected to always know how to dress for the occasion and may spend a long time standing in front of the mirror, but they never shop alone (Khanna, 2004).
Gender Roles: The Functionalist Argument
The functionalist argument in gender roles is assumed to ‘fit’ the needs of individuals, the family and the social system. These roles are influenced by biology, are learned through socialisation and emphasise that the woman’s primary responsibility is the home. Critics of this argument see such approaches as avoiding a proper consideration of inequalities in the distribution of labour and power, with the consequent exploitation of women in work and at home.
Functionalist sociologists argue that the universality of gender roles is explained in terms of their usefulness, rather than biology. The sexual division of labour is seen as functional for both individuals and society. It emphasises the importance of motherhood and claims that the mother role and the family are universal. Moreover, it emphasises the importance of the functions of the family, particularly as regards the stabilisation of the adult personality and socialisation of children. The expressive female role is compared with the instrumental male role, and they are seen as complementary. The view that gender is largely socially defined is supported by evidence of cultural and historical variation. Comparative and historical studies are important. Therefore, social scientists were able to identify considerable variation in sex and gender roles in simple societies, including the reversal of traditional roles and the virtual absence of role differentiation.
Traditionally, prevalent societal attitudes may exert powerful influences on filmmakers (Phillips 1999, 375). The audiences are drawn to the plot and establish empathy with the characters with whom they are able to identify. Empathy is among the primary mechanisms that results to responses of viewers to frightful stimuli (Bryant & Thompson 2002, 221). People watch films or even shows in the television to liberate themselves from various conditions such as boredom, personal problems, or even for the sake of curiosity, entertainment, and mere appreciation of the film as a form of art. In every given country, it constitutes a significant proportion of the worldwide population of film lovers and viewers.
As Bryant and Thompson (2002, 352) affirmed, the entertainment brought about by film (and other forms of communication medium) is an effective and acceptable way to relieve one’s discontentment and stressing situations of everyday life. Primarily, the entertainment that films offer to everyone who sees it serves as an activity that delights and enlightens people’s viewing experiences even just for a temporary span of time. Today, films are no longer limited for the purposes of art and entertainment but serve as a potent avenue for learning and instruction. However, the presence of many films that vary from genre, languages, and even area of origin plus the factors affecting the growth, commercialization, globalization, and modernization of the worldwide cinema business, needs to qualify the standards of a good and worthy film. The question of what makes a good film is the real challenge to face. The quest for the best film among other films in the commercial market is one of the serious endeavours of every film aficionado. Thus, there is the presence of different worldwide evaluation and classification groups, institutions, and organizations directed to film analyses, reviews and criticisms.
The theme of racism and racial discrimination is relatively presented through spoken dialogues. There are no significant differences in the American films of Chan, aside from the technical considerations on the given medium. In terms of presentation, cinema has been using up-to-date technologies that alter the traditional viewing experience. This also affects the absorption of the audience of the play’s message. In general, the film and the play do not differ significantly except on the technical aspect. The similarities are deliberate enough to be comprehensible and no longer needs critical explanations. It is further believed that the audiences who saw both can clearly decipher the whole message or theme in an effortless and interesting manner.
Generally, film is a medium of a “broader global patterns and frameworks, especially the communication industry as an integrated interacting whole” (Mowlana 1997, 97). It provides a giant mirror that serves as a reflection of the values, the half-truths, and the ideals of the society and its people (Whetmore 1997, 201). Universal emotions such as fear, love, disappointment, etc. have been experienced by people. It could be a total ruin, complete love, paralyzing fear, or savage violence. Through film, it blows up these emotions until they become “larger than life” (Whetmore 1997, 201). Because of film’s popularity and universality, many people use films as an agent of communication, education, learning, and entertainment. The feeling of audience and resemblance of existence is the basic element of cinema without which there is no art of filmmaking. The complex, artistic whole and elements are facilitated by a number of linkages with the artistic cultural experiences of the society (Hart 1991, 1). Film is an externalization of what is real in life. As stated, people relate and learn from it. It is a medium of entertainment, communication, and instruction. Viewers resort to movies as means of diversion and amusement.
Meanwhile, film analysis and criticism plays one principal purpose – to evaluate the overall quality of a particular film. In today’s contemporary standards, it could be theorised that the presence of award-giving institutions are helpful to viewers and film related people especially in determining the aspects that needs further development and the parts that need to be maintained. Award-giving bodies qualify or can also intensify the views of more legitimate and credible film critics. Like all mass media, film has two component parts that serve as basis in film analysis – the form and the content (Whetmore 1997, 207). These alone may determine what is a ‘smart’ or ‘dumb’ film.
All in all, the concept of film and its audience is very essential to every individual that consider film as a portrayal of reality. However, today’s film industry is facing several great challenges that are headed for radical transformation (David 1998, 119). Like the film itself, the industry and its people will undergo further dimensions in terms of technological approaches and developments.
The importance of cultural intertexts has served the purpose of addressing why these stars came to embody specific masculine types, how these modes of masculinity were formulated in social discourse, and why these stars exercised a certain hold over the collective imagination. The necessity of the fullest possible examination of the cultural framework is seen in analyzing how stardom comes to represent anything especially in terms of gender.
The various guises of masculinity revealed in these stars may indicate just how reactive notions of masculine identity were to perceived social upheaval, especially to that associated with women. In keeping with the era’s dominant discoveries on masculine development, they all appear to reveal the underlying assumption that men were made, not born, from their most normative to their most transgressive embodiments of transformative masculinity.
References
Adler, L (1993) International Handbook on Gender Roles, Greenwood Press Greenwood, CT
Bourke, J (1996) History Today, 46, February issue
Benedetti, R (2001) Action! Acting for Film and TV, Allyn and Bacon, New York
Bryant, J and Thompson, S (2002) Fundamentals of Media Effects, McGraw Hill, Boston
David, J (1998) Wages of Cinema: Film in Philippines Perspective, University of the Philippines Press, Manila, Philippines
David, N (1990) the National Pastime: Contemporary Philippine Cinema, Advil, Manila, PH
Hart, A (1991) Understanding Media: a Practical Guide, Routledge, London
Holmes, G, Zonn, L and Cravey, AJ (2004) “Placing man in the New West: Masculinities of The Last Picture Show”, GeoJournal, 59: 277–288
Khanna, P (2004) “The Metrosexual Superpower: The Stylish European Union Struts Past the Bumbling United States on the Catwalk of Global Diplomacy”, Foreign Policy, 143, July-August issue
Mowlana, H (1997) Global Information and World Communication, 2nd edition, Sage, London
Phillips, W (1999) Film: an Introduction, Bedford/St. Martin, Boston, MA
Wetzstein, C (1996) “It’s Been 2 Years, and Men’s Image Is Still Suffering: Much Ado Followed Time”, The Washington Times, December 4 issue
Whetmore, EJ (1997) Mediamerica: Form, Content, and Consequence of Mass Communication, Wadsworth, New York
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