"Mulvey argues that various features of cinema viewing conditions facilitate for the viewer both the voyeuristic process of objectification of female characters and also the narcissistic process of identification with an 'ideal ego' seen on the screen. She declares that in patriarchal society 'pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female'" (Chandler, "Lara Mulvey," 2000)
The 1976 documentary Pumping Iron directed by George Butler which chronicles the early phases of Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding career suggests that Schwarzenegger's posture of fitness was hardly natural, but was instead carefully orchestrated and constructed as the look of any woman, despite the posturing hyper-masculinity of the competitive bodybuilding world. "After fifteen years of lifting in gyms nationwide, I've come to believe that the terms 'health and fitness' and 'hardcore bodybuilding' have little in common," said one former bodybuilder (Denham 2008, p
' "As they practice swelling their muscles and striking poses -- all the time looking at themselves -- the body-builders have the self-absorbed look of fashion models. In some cases -- particularly with one contender, Louis Ferrigno -- the mournful expression peering out of all those deltoids, triceps and latissima dorsi calls up an image that skitters around a while before it is pinned down" (Eder 1977)
Once shy and afraid of girls, he is shown as a warm and confident man flexing biceps with his two toddlers. In a revealing scene, he acknowledges, without self-pity, his early feelings of aloneness and how bodybuilding was his key to a sense of personal worth and public recognition" (Hause 1977)
He was also a far cry from the skinny Austrian boy whose father, Gustav, a policeman and a one-time member of the Nazi Party, intimidated and sometimes beat him, favoring his other son, Menhard, according to published accounts of Mr. Schwarzenegger's life" (Weintraub & LeDuff 2003, p
" This is what we see during the 1980s to throughout the 1990s cinema with films like Fatal Attraction (Lyne, motion picture film), Predator (McTiernan, John (dir), 1987, motion picture film), the Terminator film and sequels (Cameron, James (dir), 1984, 1991, and 2003, motion picture film), the Mad Max (Miller, George (dir),1979, 1981, and 1985, motion picture) series, and the Lethal Weapon (Donner, Richard (dir), 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1998, motion picture film) series. There is a shift away from the female leading character in film, to the masculine characters, or what Susan Jeffords calls the "hard body" films, or the leading man who woos the women viewers, kills them with kindness, and the focus of the film is all about male masculinity and the male body (Ayers, Drew, 2008, 41)
196)." This is what we see during the 1980s to throughout the 1990s cinema with films like Fatal Attraction (Lyne, motion picture film), Predator (McTiernan, John (dir), 1987, motion picture film), the Terminator film and sequels (Cameron, James (dir), 1984, 1991, and 2003, motion picture film), the Mad Max (Miller, George (dir),1979, 1981, and 1985, motion picture) series, and the Lethal Weapon (Donner, Richard (dir), 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1998, motion picture film) series
196)." This is what we see during the 1980s to throughout the 1990s cinema with films like Fatal Attraction (Lyne, motion picture film), Predator (McTiernan, John (dir), 1987, motion picture film), the Terminator film and sequels (Cameron, James (dir), 1984, 1991, and 2003, motion picture film), the Mad Max (Miller, George (dir),1979, 1981, and 1985, motion picture) series, and the Lethal Weapon (Donner, Richard (dir), 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1998, motion picture film) series
We see in Eastwood's character the face of a man trapped, an underlying anger, but no ability to escape his situation because, as is the case in every character Eastwood has ever played, his character has honor and dignity. Frustrated by his encounter with the psychotic Evelyn, Dave is forced to hold Evelyn while he stands up the real love of his life (Eastwood (dir), 1971)
There is a shift away from the female leading character in film, to the masculine characters, or what Susan Jeffords calls the "hard body" films, or the leading man who woos the women viewers, kills them with kindness, and the focus of the film is all about male masculinity and the male body (Ayers, Drew, 2008, 41). The hard body films, and ultimately the focus of the feminine perspective is what Carl Plantinga calls hypermasculinity, and it is satirized using a fictional band called Spinal Tap in a fictionalized documentary (Grant, Barry Keith, and Sloniowski, Jeanette, 1998, p
Frustrated by his encounter with the psychotic Evelyn, Dave is forced to hold Evelyn while he stands up the real love of his life (Eastwood (dir), 1971). Jeffords says that the 1980s, when Play Misty for Me was made, was a transitional period from "focusing upon women and women's issues to the study of gender, in particular, a shift toward including studies of men and masculinity (Jeffords, Collins, Radner, Collins (ed), p
What remains even more amazing about Eastwood is that he was able to subsequent to his spaghetti westerns, move to contemporary screen characters, like the 1971 classic that he directed and starred in as the radio personality Dave; in Play Misty for Me. This film was the original fatal attraction, even before Michael Douglas (another famous bad boy), starred along side the talented actress Glen Close, in the film titled Fatal Attraction (Lyne, Adrian, 1987, motion picture film)
196)." This is what we see during the 1980s to throughout the 1990s cinema with films like Fatal Attraction (Lyne, motion picture film), Predator (McTiernan, John (dir), 1987, motion picture film), the Terminator film and sequels (Cameron, James (dir), 1984, 1991, and 2003, motion picture film), the Mad Max (Miller, George (dir),1979, 1981, and 1985, motion picture) series, and the Lethal Weapon (Donner, Richard (dir), 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1998, motion picture film) series
196)." This is what we see during the 1980s to throughout the 1990s cinema with films like Fatal Attraction (Lyne, motion picture film), Predator (McTiernan, John (dir), 1987, motion picture film), the Terminator film and sequels (Cameron, James (dir), 1984, 1991, and 2003, motion picture film), the Mad Max (Miller, George (dir),1979, 1981, and 1985, motion picture) series, and the Lethal Weapon (Donner, Richard (dir), 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1998, motion picture film) series
They, like This is Spinal Tap, become the documentary of the evolution of masculinity in film. Only rarely, as is the case of actress Sigourney Weaver's character in Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3 (Scott, Ridley (dir), 1979, 1986, and 2007, motion picture film) do we see a lead female portraying herself as emotionally strong, capable, and possessing and demonstrating an IQ greater than her bra size
Stevenson's book is one of the few books written in its time that is still popular today. Most people are aware of the story, either from an educational standpoint or from their own pure curiosity about the story (Cohen, 2003)
For females to be athletes, then, they must be both feminine and masculine (athletic). Indeed, "through history women's entrance into this masculine domain of sorts has been carefully monitored by claims that the athletic female body is…a gender-deviant, freakish body" (Adams, Schmitke, Franklin, 2005, p
How a person looks is often an important part of who that person thinks he/she is. The visual (the body) has become symbolic of identity, and how we look signals a lot about us, such as our socioeconomic status or our group affiliations (Frost, 2003)
Underachievement, coupled with physicality, seems to be the expectation of what it means to be "masculine" in school and non-conforming could mean that a male might be perceived as feminine or even homosexual (thereby possibly stifling academic performance of some male students to "fit in"). Further, expecting males to perform at a lower level than females could "seriously underestimate and disadvantage boys" (Gard, 2008, p
" In the classroom, "acting feminine" includes being non-disruptive, educationally oriented, and polite. When girls start to exhibit the signs of masculinity, such as assertiveness or sexual openness, she is treated as far worse than a boy doing the same (Jackson, 2006)