Sunday, November 10, 2019

2019: The Year of Toxic Masculinity in Film


2019: The Year of Toxic Masculinity in Film
by Nate Brennaman

            In the article, “Toxic Masculinity at the Movies: This Year’s Awards Season Is All About Bad Men,” written by Eric Kohn, he writes about how many movies this year deal with toxic masculinity. Kohn says, “More than any Oscar race in recent memory, the top candidates to date settle on fragile men repressing their insecurities with tough-guy shielding, denying themselves the support systems at their disposal” (Kohn). Among these films are Joker, The Irishman, and Marriage Story. Of these three films, I have only seen Joker, as the other two have not been released wide yet. Kohn writes that Robert De Niro’s character in Scorsese’s The Irishman “spends much of the movie operating under the assumption that he knows exactly how a man should behave — in a patriarchal, domineering fashion that ultimately alienates his offspring.” Many of Scorsese’s pictures deal with toxic and violent masculinities, including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. The fact that many movies this year have themes of masculinity, specifically toxic masculinities, shows that as a society we are beginning to confront and deal with these issues.
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/toxic-masculinity-at-the-movies-joker-irishman-oscars-1202187285/

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