The history of the Western world is a history of patriarchy: a world built by men for men. While early feminists generally criticized male dominance in the private and public sphere, the emerging emancipation movement and men’s studies in the 80’s and 90’s made it clear that the topic is much more complex: the popular view of masculinity that oppresses femininity is not the only version of masculinity that exists. As a result, the question “What makes a man masculine?“ was picked up by the movie industry. Movies are a form of cultural representation that not only reflects, but also form our attitudes towards masculinity.
In this course we will study excerpts from films and related literature.
