Jennica Core Blog Post #3 From Physical to Psychological: A Timeline about the Portrayals of Masculinity

Gender has always been a crucial element when illustrating societal norms and values, transitions, conflicts, and crisis. However, as we can tell from analyzing John Wayne’s performance in Stagecoach, Carey Grant’s portrayal of Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest, and Matt Damon’s performance of Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley, gender expression has changed over the decades. While representations of masculinity may have relied on physical characteristics in the early years of film, statements about masculinity soon transitioned to incorporating character psychology as a critical way to understand and interpret gender and masculinity.

Because of John Wayne’s physicality he is described as “the way to be an American,” representing manliness, authority, and maturity constructed by his physical stature, namely his size and his strength. John Wayne’s physicality parallels American ideals in terms of stability, domination, and power during a time in which the nation was marked by political and economic turmoil (the great depression and the years between World War I and II). John Wayne illuminates the ultimate masculine identity, nothing about him is feminine or ambiguous illuminating a time in history in which identity was clearly defined as masculine or feminine, gender identity was not a hazy concept. The ideas of Marxism that challenged the function of capitalism and thus essentially masculinity as a dominant ideology had yet to become a way of thinking in America thus Wayne’s statue exemplified utter perfection isolating all notions of Americanism that would keep the nation out of an utter state of chaos even when other countries in the world especially in Europe were on the verge of collapse. Wayne’s physicality is used to evoke a sense of nostalgia, thus he acts as a figure that gives stability to the present while reinventing the American fantasy past. The first World War marked the last time in which physical power allowed domination over an opponent or ideology and Wayne’s demise somewhat parallels this change that gave rise to characters like Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest where physical power and domination are equally as important as psycological power as a way to coerce and navigate identity. While World War II relied on domination through power and strength (i.e. physical arms) it was also the first time in which propaganda was seriously used as a mechanism to influence political and economic domination (psychological). However, the cold war relied virtually solely on psychological mechanisms in order to intimidate others thus giving rise to characters like Roger Thornhill in which masculinity was expressed not only through character physicality but psychology emulating US national challenges during the cold war time period.

Carey Grant’s performance in North by Northwest is particularly interesting because it culminates elements that not only physically are used to restore masculinity but also relies on many psychological elements that deal with the Post War male identity crisis.  The notion of the lines of masculinity and femininity being blurred feed off of a time in which males were rediscovering their identity and females were actively challenging the gender dichotomy firmly established during the early 20^th century.  The masculine elements of Eve’s character including her ability to exert power over Roger, and her intelligent and sly nature illustrated the fear many males faced when they saw elements of their masculinity including power being challenged by their female counter parts. Roger is a businessman but rather his participation in the advertising industry gives him a more feminine flare working in an industry dependent on selling and consuming ads, an industry constructed purely for the consumption of products by women prior to this time. Roger’s rather aloof nature and feminine walk differentiate him from the John Wayne type statue that could command the attention of the room. Yet this chaos is restored at the end of the film not only by restoring gender roles but also illustrating the disastrous consequences should the founding values of America and capitalist society not be upheld.  Capitalism is masculine domination while feminine domination is communist chaos illustrated by the femme fatale Eve. Rogers’s identity crisis is illustrated not only through his feminine traits and beauty but also rather through his psychological crisis as he attempts to discount his identity as George Kaplan with a group of people who refuse to believe that Roger is his true name. Unlike how John Wayne’s physical performance commanded the attention of an audience, Grant’s performance is so psychologically driven it requires an audience to delve much deeper into metaphorically analyzing an interior “performance” as opposed to relying on Wayne’s physical exterior “performance.” For example when Roger wavers along the highway drunk as he attempts to escape death this scene also can be seen as a way he attempts to navigate through a blurry vision of who he is and how to regain his identity which no believes which is a purely psychological dilemma. Thus through the film the audience is forced to look to characters psychology to interpret and understand the authors statements about the masculinity crisis in postwar American rather than simply relying on physicality.

Relying even further on character psychology as way of discovering and navigating masculinity is through the character of Tom Ripley in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley.  Tom Ripley’s desire to first befriend Dickey soon follows a dangerous path in which he literally becomes Dickey believing that’s who he his. In order to discover his identity he must not only adopt the physical aspects of the character of Dickey but more importantly the psychological aspects actually becoming the character spiraling the narrative into complete chaos. However, unlike in North by Northwest where there is resolution The Talented Mr. Ripley ends where is begins in complete disarray thus complimenting the historical narrative in which gender roles and imbalances have become even further distorted and challenged as we move into a more progressive society. Unlike the time when Carey Grant was able to restore his masculinity, here Tom may attempt to by adopting the dark haired masculine character of Dickey who resembles a figure much like Carey Grant but the plan fails. Dickey’s death can be seen as an example of the traditional male “dying” giving rise to Dickey’s tough journey as he navigates what it meant to be a male like Dickey i.e. the traditional power driven and suave male driven by his physicality, to an era in which Tom must learn to accept his maleness which has both feminine and masculine components of his identity. However, his psychological resistance and refusal to accept this as he lives in the past in the years in which he was at “Harvard” allows the narrative to spiral out of control.

Carey Grant and Dickie Greenleaf representing masculine perfection in terms of beauty.

Dickie Greenleaf represents the male of the past. Much like Carey Grant his suave, dark skinned nature is enviable even for other males like Tom. Tom's inability to become Dickie physically forces his to attempt to become Dickie psychologically allowing his character to spiral out of control.

 

Tom may be unable to change his physical construction but psychologically and cinemac he has been crafted to carefully have adopted the ideal masculine identity of Dickie Greenleaf as a facade to protect his own more ambiguous identity.

Defining masculinity has always existed in film yet the forms in which characters and audiences challenge, navigate, and question maleness has largely moved from a purely physical state to a psychological state thus integrating a further level of complexity to our male characters.