The Evolution of Masculinity in Film

I've written a lot especially in my

Memoir the great good thing about how

the Arts schooled me in manhood I didn't

find anywhere around me a man that I

could model myself on or felt that I

could model myself on and so I looked

for such men in fiction and in the

movies and I found it in American tough

guy fiction like by Ernest Hemingway and

Joshua Hammett and Raymond Chandler and

I found it in the movies in characters

played by guys like Humphrey Bogart and

John Wayne now

the most important character in my young

adulthood or my adolescence I would say

was Raymond Chandler's private detective

Philip Marlow he was a man who carried

the ideal of chivalry into a corrupt

modern society Raymond Chandler wrote an

essay about him in which he said this

and this became something when I read

this the first time as a kid of maybe 13

14 years old I said yes that's the kind

of man I want to be

he wrote down these Mean Streets a man

must go who's not himself mean who's

neither tarnished nor afraid he's the

hero he's everything he must be to use a

rather weathered phrase a man of Honor

by Instinct by inevitability without

thought of it and certainly without

saying it now whether I succeeded in

that is not for me to judge I know I did

sometimes and I know I didn't sometimes

but that was the model I set for myself

and so I want to take a look at a couple

of figures

in the Arts especially in American

movies and look at the way manhood has

changed and what the movies have been

telling us about manhood all this time

it's a good thing to look at the Arts

because the artist captures something

about The Human Experience in his time

and once that thing is spoken aloud it

becomes part of the time it has an

effect on the time

there's a new book out called the last

action heroes the triumphs flops and

feuds of Hollywood's Kings of Carnage

it's by Nick desemlian and it charts

what I think is one of the most

interesting developments in the way men

are presented in the culture and have

been presented in my lifetime I noticed

it when it was going on but it's

interesting people are writing about it

now the old movie see I grew up watching

old movies because there were no

recording devices there were no VHS

machines or streaming so a movie came to

the theater and it left the only movies

on TV were old movies the movies my mom

and dad would watch in the theater the

same movies they saw in the theater were

the only movies on TV so I saw a lot of

old movies and then these old movies a

man an action man a man of action was

ready for action but he didn't

necessarily want to go into action

action was not a good thing it was just

something he was ready to do when he had

to do it here's just a quick famous

scene of John Wayne in a movie called

McClintock which is kind of a Western

comedy a guy has been hitting Wayne in

the stomach with a rifle hitting him

again and again bullying him and

eventually Wayne takes the rifle away

from him let's cut 10. now we'll all

calm down well she's just a little

excited I know I know I'm gonna use good

judgment I haven't lost my temper in 40

years but Pilgrim you caused a lot of

trouble this morning might have got

somebody killed and somebody ought to

Belt you in the mouth but I won't I

won't the hell

the hell I want in other words he

doesn't want to lose his temper he's not

supposed to lose his temper he hasn't

lost his temper in 40 years but when the

time comes he is ready for action

now then came the Revolutionary 1970s

and the image of a Man became kind of

intellectual and ethnic and kind of

Inward and off-bead actors like Dustin

Hoffman Al Pacino Robert De Niro they

were troubled men trying to find a code

and a kind of corrupt Lost World it was

really in the 1980s when things changed

and that's what this book is about

suddenly there were all these really

really muscle-bound stars like Arnold

Schwarzenegger Sylvester Stallone to a

lesser extent Bruce Willis they were

almost cyborgs they were almost they

were defined by violence and action

that's all they did in the movies here's

a scene from The Terminator where Arnold

Schwarzenegger is playing a literal

cyborg but it shows you kind of what I

mean I need your clothes your boots and

your motorcycle

hahaha

you forgot to say please

so he's not even a man at all really you

can't hurt him there's he doesn't

experience with Daniel Penny experience

he doesn't experienced fear he just is

so huge so indestructible that he does

what he has to do it's kind of this

weird blown up puffed up idea of what

manhood is and now I noticed this as I

said at the time I thought when did Men

become that when did that become the

image of a man and of course you can

only guess at the reasons you're only

imposing your guesses but I thought then

and I still think now that this

coincided with the first real rise of

angry leftist feminism so this cyborg

maleness which would ultimately morph

into today's superheroes these guys were

also indestructible it may have been

like a comforting assertion of male

fantasy power at a time when men felt

they were losing their power to these

loud angry nasty feminists or it also

may have been a reaction to the idea

that men and women were antagonists see

this was the part of a feminism that was

left this that men and women were

antagonists rather than lovers and

friends so that they had to heavily

Define themselves as utterly male and

utterly female women movies for women in

that time were unwatchable by a man the

old soap operas which were called

women's pictures a man could watch they

were entertaining they were interesting

they had men in them they had

relationships in them but modern

romantic comedies and romances you can't

look at at all if you're a man it's like

having a screwdriver dug into your head

so instead of being human beings who are

different genders feminism defined us as

antagonists with utterly different

personalities which is just not true

this is the idea of context which is

very important to manhood how a man

expresses himself how he expresses his

manhood is going to depend on what

situation he is what historical

situation is if Genghis Khan is the most

natural man the Warfare and Conquest

Express something very basic about men

which I think they do they and that's

why Andrew Tate resonates there is

something natural in man that wants to

conquer that wants to seduce that wants

to be the top dog every civilization I

think has a place a golden age that it

looks back to when men could be that

thing but be it morally so the British

have the knights and shining armor you

can be a tough guy you can be a Wanderer

you can be a fighter but you are the

more the Exemplar of morality same thing

is true in the western the Japanese had

the samurai the French had the

Musketeers the Trojan Warriors are like

that

if you look at the knights and armor and

The Westerns they always there's always

a sense there that a go that golden age

is passing if you look at the Arthurian

myths there's a sense that this is a

doomed way of life and you look at

westerns there is always this idea that

as the tough guys the real man the basic

man settles the West a new man is

required who is something new and

something less than this the best

version of this is in the novel and

movie Shane if you've ever never read

the novel Shane you should read it it's

just an absolutely uh terrific Western

this is about a Wandering gunman who

comes to a farming community that is

being bullied by the ranchers who don't

want the farmers to move in and the

family takes this gunman in and the

little boy and his mother have to choose

between two versions of manhood one is

the wandering gunman who's the tough guy

and that's Shane and the other is Joe

start who's the farmer the husband the

Father the provider the guy who can till

the land farm the land and build a

civilization Adam Alan Ladd a terrific

tough guy actor he plays Shane and

there's one scene where he's teaching

the little boy how to shoot a gun but

the mother misses start she doesn't want

to see her boy using a gun and she comes

out and scolds him I was just teaching

[Applause]

come on Joey

guns aren't going to be my boy's life

why do you always have to spoil

everything

that is a tool Miriam

no better no worse than any other two an

ax a shovel or anything

a gun is as good or as bad as the man

using it so there there he is schooling

the lady on what it takes to settle a

community the man can't always be a

farmer can't always be the husband can't

always be the provider sometimes he has

to fight it out and she has to choose

between this romantic stranger and the

man who has taken care of her and she's

married and she loves them both and so

does the child the child has to decide

who what he's going to be like another

great version of the story of the two

men the two different kinds of men that

it requires to build the civilizations

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance uh here

the two men are Jimmy Stewart he plays

Rance Stoddard who is a physically weak

but intellectual lawyer who comes out to

the west to establish a law practice and

John Wayne plays the tough guy

Frontiersman uh Tom Donovan and the

woman who's caught between them is named

Hallie Erickson she played by Vera Miles

the villain who terrorizes the town was

the great Lee Marvin playing Liberty

Valance here's a scene where Stoddard

the lawyer guess he has to get a job

waiting tables because he has to support

himself and Liberty Valance bullies him

and trips him up as he's trying to carry

a tray until Donovan John Wayne steps in

there's a cup 13.

looking at the new waitress

[Laughter]

that's my stake balance

and you heard him dude

pick it up

oh Pilgrim hold it I said you Valance

you pick it up

great movie great scene Jimmy Stewart

has courage he's going to go after him

but he's going to get killed if he does

because he's not John Wayne and in the

end

spoiler alert in the end the lawyer

Jimmy Stewart has to face off in a duel

with Liberty Valance and shoots Liberty

Valance dead and on the glory that

accrues to him from that duel he becomes

a senator Rises becomes an ambassador to

England and is now on the verge if he

wants to to becoming the vice president

of the United States he comes back when

Tom Donovan dies as an old man and he

tells his story to the reporters And the

reporter tears the story up and famous

line from this movie The Man Who Shot

Liberty valves cut 14. okay

well you're not going to use the story

Mr Scott

no sir

[Music]

this is the West sir

when the legend becomes fact

print the legend it's a hugely important

line not just a great line but it's also

a hugely important line because what it

means is this after men like John Wayne

after tough guys settle the world so the

women and children are safe they want to

forget it they want to forget what it

took and this is why you get these

people apologizing for taking the land

from the Indians oh we're here in

college but we're so sorry that we took

the land away from the Indians who of

course were taking the land from the

last Indians who were on it before them

who took it away from the guys before

that they're not leaving the land

they're not stopping going to college

they're not living in teepees they're

living the life that was given to them

by tough guys who fought with the

Indians in order to settle the west and

so they we live and lives lies right we

live in lies and what people like me try

to do is live in the truth I love to

read books I love Arts I know I

understand that I'm able to do that I'm

able to live the life that I live

because men are standing on walls

defending me risking their lives to

defend me and I never forget that they

never dished them because of who they

are sometimes people say to you oh you

can't be for war you can't decide on

whether we should go to war because you

were never a soldier I say no no no no

because I was never a soldier I had that

much more respect for the people who

make the world safe so all of the things

that make civilization worth having can

be done so now as the country becomes

urbanized the opportunities for that

kind of natural male aggression

disappear right the violent man becomes

an outlaw this is why gangster movies

start to become popular uh and why we

saw so many

um

so many TV shows in the 2000s like uh

The Sopranos and the shield and Breaking

Bad where a man becomes a man by being

an outlaw context matters that's why the

what the show the book and the movie One

Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is about

this guy comes in who is a bad guy

Randall Patrick McMurphy he's not a guy

that you like he's not a civilized

person he's an anti-social character but

when you put him in this place where men

are essentially being castrated and are

being told that they're crazy for being

who they are he becomes a man I think

this is a lot of Donald Trump's appeal

comes from Context our freedom is

threatened by corrupt politician so

Donald Trump's loud mouth Theory sounds

like manhood as long as he is fighting

for a freedom when he's just fighting

for his own ego not so much the guy who

has dealt best I think with the question

of manhood and the two kinds of manhood

and the dilemmas of Madness David Mamet

he's written a lot of good things but

the two great things that he wrote are

Glenn Gary Glenn Ross and The

Untouchables Glengarry Lynn Ross takes

up the ideas of play it started as a

play and then was made into a terrific

movie 1992 fantastic cast if you haven't

seen it the Al Pacino Jack Lemmon Alec

Baldwin Eleanor and Ed Harris Kevin

Spacey Jonathan price one great actor

after another turning in one great

performance after another and it is

about the this unsatisfying idea that

the adventures of the West The

Adventures of violence have been taken

over by trade to be macho is to be a

Salesman the guy who makes the most

money is the guy who is the most manly

and here's Alec Baldwin driving that

home to his sales staff cut 15. you

can't play in the man's game you can't

close them then go home and tell your

wife your troubles

because only one thing counts in this

life get them to sign on the line which

is dotted you hear me you

a b c a always b b c closing always be

closing always be closing if money

becomes the measure of manhood the price

is your moral Soul here's a scene where

Al Pacino is the top salesman makes a

sale this is what he says cut 16. when

you die you're gonna regret the things

you don't do

you think you're queer I'm gonna tell

you something we're all Queer you think

you're a thief so what

you get befuddled by a middle-class

morality get shut of it shut it out

[Music]

cheat on your wife you did it live with

it

little girls so be it is an absolute

morality huh Maybe

and then what

if you think there is go ahead be that

thing

bad people go to hell I don't think so

you think that out that way that's a

great great speech and it just shows

that he's lost the core of himself he's

acting out the rituals of manhood but he

is no longer an actual person and

therefore no longer a man at the same

time I think he wrote I think Mamet

wrote the script for The Untouchables

around the same time he wrote down Gary

Glenn Ross and there he deals with this

he turns the gangster movie on its head

by making the hero the Goody Two Shoe

law man played by Kevin Costner Elliot

nass who comes in to take Al Capone out

in Chicago but before he can do the

Telos of his job which is getting Capone

he has to learn the lesson from the old

guy from the old west the Old Law man

Sean Connery this is that great scene

cut 17. you said you wanted to know how

to get to Capone

do you really want to get him

you see what I'm saying what are you

prepared to do

everything within the law and then what

are you prepared to do

if you open the ball and these people Mr

Nash you must be prepared to go all the

way because they won't give up the fight

until one of you is dead I want to get

Capone I don't know how to get him you

want to get Capone here's how you get

him he pulls a knife you pull a gun he

sends one of yours to the hospital you

send one a hist of the mark That's

the man who does his job according to

his Telos and who lives in the truth

even when it costs him is going to face

the challenges that require all the

finest qualities of manhood a woman can

do that but women can't just look at the

occupations that have been taken over by

women and you will see the truth without

men civilizations aren't built without

men civilizations crumble what men are

the future will be and you may say well

I want to be a man like that but I can't

afford it or I'm afraid of losing my

Twitter account or my wife doesn't

respect me enough or Society isn't fair

to me my response to that to all of that

is that's all true now be a man for more

great content like And subscribe don't

forget also subscribe to the Andrew

klavan show wherever you get your

podcast