‘Fight Club’ Still Serves as an Odyssey of Alienation and Brotherhood
Fight Club conveyed Gen X men’s frustration, leading to paramilitary militia groups and Promise Keepers. It lends itself to reinterpretation to this day.
masculinity
Rom-Communism: ‘Ted Lasso’ and the Future of the Romantic Comedy
As polarization impacts the cultural landscape, rom-coms like Ted Lasso show how we can work through our differences and disagreements to everyone’s satisfaction.
Retro Monsters and Sexual Politics Dominate These Three Sci-Fi Movies
Sci-fi movies Unknown Terror, The Colossus of New York and Destination Inner Space inject monsters into personal melodrama for masculine redemption.
How Masculinity Fails in Jane Campion’s ‘The Power of the Dog’
Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog undermines “toxic masculinity” – a term that evokes the existence of alternative masculinities.
Sundance 2021: Poonpiriya’s ‘One for the Road’ Explores Brotherhood
Baz Poonpiriya's broken misfits in One for the Road are raw products of loneliness.
The Risky and Limited Life of Burt Reynolds’ Macho ‘Hooper’
Burt Reynolds' Sonny Hooper is a carefree and lovable guy whose reckless stunt pro lifestyle symbolizes the self-troubles and limitations toxic masculinity creates.
Randy Newman’s ‘Born Again’ Is His Best Critique of Toxic Masculinity
Randy Newman's satirical narrators lack self-reflection. This makes Newman the ideal songwriter to dismantle what would come to be called toxic masculinity.
The Dance of Male Forms in Denis’ ‘Beau travail’
Claire Denis' masterwork of cinematic poetry, Beau travail, is a cinematic ballet that tracks through tone and style the sublimation of violent masculine complexes into the silent convulsions of male angst.
Do We Already Know the Answer to the Question, ‘Are Men Animals?’
Matthew Gutmann's Are Men Animals is and interesting but flawed, rushed look at masculinity that suffers from digressions and an unwillingness to be as political as it could have been.
Riley Stearns’ ‘The Art of Self-Defense’ Is a Knockout Black Comedy
If director Riley Stearns sometimes loses his thematic bearings, he never forgets to deliver large, violent doses of comedy in The Art of Self-Defense.
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Sense and Sensibility at the World Cup
I've sworn, after learning about the latest kleptocrat billionaire to buy a club, or scrambling from the clash between hooligans and riot police, or hearing a homophobic chant rise up from the stands, I would give up on the game. Anyone with sense would.
I Know This Because Talbott Knows This: Chuck Palahniuk’s ‘Adjustment Day’
Adjustment Day may not be peak Palahniuk, but it is nonetheless entertaining and twistedly educational, providing abundantly peculiar and original paths within one of his most astute and necessary social commentaries to date.