Kanon Suzuki

The Mask You Live In (Practice HL essay)

A documentary film captures a particular viewpoint on reality, calling attention to a certain

dilemma that prevails in our society. It aims to inflict change in an audience’s attitude, inclining them

to take action towards mitigating the issue. With the documentary, The Mask You Live In, directed by

Jennifer Siebel Newsom– we see that the problem being upheld is the prevalence of toxic masculinity

in American society. The documentary effectively uses the features of interviews, archival footage,

and statistics in a distinct sequence, so as to convince the audience that these unattainable

representations of masculinity, pose destructive effects on the identity of individuals.

Numerous concerns are raised within the documentary, and interviews are presented as a way

to broach each specific subject matter. One of the major points being made in the documentary is that

a lot of men feel compelled to adhere to hypermasculine constructs, out of fear of being marginalized.

This is brought to discussion by Dr. Judy Chu, a psychologist and an educator that had done a study

on children of a pre-kindergarten class. She talks about how the boys had established a hierarchy on

their own, with rules such as ‘no playing with the girls’ determining their ways of being and

interacting with one another. Apparently, one of the boys had confessed to her about being friends

with the girls in secret, because he feared that he’d be fired from the group if the leader of them found

out. In using this account of a young boy, feeling like he needs to defend his masculine social identity,

she projects that it’s pertinent to tackle the issue. As an audience, hearing about a young boy worry

over being ostracised is heart wrenching, captivating them by the point being made. Moreover,

Dr.Judy’s role as an expert allows her to establish authority on the subject, making her claim valuable

and persuasive. Here, we see that the interview makes an appeal to both pathos and ethos, allowing

the documentary to capture the audience’s attention.

Following this is another interview, but this time with commoners. Using the plain-folk

appeal, the documentary aims to showcase that the issue can affect anyone in society. A mother and

her son, Gaby and Roman are interviewed, sharing Roman’s experience of being marginalized and

bullied. Despite Gaby having chosen a school that honored family values and kindness, Roman was

still affected by a dominance hierarchy that emerged within the boys. His voice trembled as he
recalled “(I) feeling(felt) alone,” and knowing that he “wasn’t doing what everyone else was doing.”

Seeing the despondence in this boy's eyes (See Appendix 1), can help the audience see the pressure

there is for the boys to present themselves as tough and that these experiences are real, and might even

make them want to help out. Here, both the element of an impassioned story and the believability of

the victim, allows the documentary to criticize the ubiquitous influence of toxic masculinity. In

addition to these two examples, a couple of other interviews are mounted to give weight to the topic.

In using such interviews, the documentary achieves a compelling introduction into each argument.

After the topics are introduced, archival footage is used to reflect how the American media

normalizes and glamorizes such issues. With the topic of effeminate men being segregated, they use a

scene from the movie ‘Glee’. The scene shows a gay teenage character getting bullied at school,

which was likely included by the writers of the movie to reflect what stereotypically happens in the

‘real world’ (See Appendix 2). Despite the scene intending no malice, that the portrayal of

gay/effeminate men in the senario of being bullied, inadvertently reinforces the idea that they are

traditionally in the position of being discriminated. The documentary makes the point that boys

exposed to such content would become rejective of feminine traits, in thinking that they are supposed

to apply this to their own life. Using this clip as one example of the media typifying ‘sissy’ men to be

the pawn of society, helps the audience recognize what the documentary is referring to, and notice

how ingrained/ proximate these aspects of toxicity are. Hence the footage accomplishes to strengthen

the claim that we have created a culture allowing for the discrimination of superficially unmasculine

men.

Other issues introduced in the documentary are supported by archival footage as well. For

example, a point was introduced, again in the form of an interview, that although men initially may

adopt hypermasculine behaviors out of peer pressure, it eventually becomes a norm/coping

mechanism. Firstly, clips of male characters getting wasted and laid in movies, male sport players

getting aggressive in a game, and artists flaunting their wealth in their music videos are presented (See

Appendix 3). These footage outline how the media defines the conquest of males as getting girls,

having physical excellence, and being wealthy. The variety of clips included, also helps to show how

widely dispersed this masculine ideal is, allowing the audience to step into the shoes of
impressionable young men who feel the need to replicate this behavior. After this, videos of teenagers

drinking at a party scene are then shown, to make the point that they drink to relieve the nervousness

when approaching girls, or to forget about their daily struggles that they suppress. Pointing this out

directly, helps the audience see how the media presented earlier, introduces these men to adopt violent

and vulgar behaviors, and abuse substances such as alcohol. Therefore, the use of archival footage can

be seen to effectively support the point made by the interviewees in the introduction.

Finally, the documentary uses Graphs/Diagrams and Statistical information to conclude on the

point they make. For example with the topic of men being marginalized, the statistic that “1 in 4 boys

reports being bullied at school and that only 30% of those notify adults” is presented in clear and

boldly colored words against a white background. Similarly with the issue of hypermasculine

behaviors being normalized or used as a coping tactic, the information that “By age 12, 34% of boys

(had) start(ed) drinking,” and “the average boy try(ies) drugs at age 13,” is presented in a similar

format. (See Appendix 4). Although critics point out that these statistics are “without citations” and

that the “specious-sounding data only raise questions about the validity of the movie’s assertions”

(Kenigsberg Film Review: 'The Mask You Live In'), it does not fail to convince the viewer. This is

because such data are shown right after the clips of intense archival footage, making the real-life

examples resonate in the viewer's mind while consuming the information. Furthermore, the statistics

fade in and out of the screen one after another fairly quickly, keeping the audience set on processing

the data, rather than giving them time to doubt it as it is presented to them. Therefore it automatically

makes the viewer convinced by the relevance and validity of the data, and serves as an appeal to

logos. This allows the documentary to justify the observations of the ‘boy crisis’ in American society,

convincing the viewer that they cannot argue with facts. Therefore, these statistics provide a sense of

urgency for each point being made to be tackled, allowing the documentary to make a compelling

case.

To conclude, the documentary, The Mask You Live In, accomplishes its aim of criticising the

toxic masculinity created in our society, first by introducing their point through an interview, then by

providing evidence using archival footage, and finally by stressing its importance with statistical data.

Following this pattern of presenting information, allows the audience to be directed towards agreeing
with and convinced by the documentary’s point of contention. Thus, this work is a successful example

of its text type.

Works Cited:

Kenigsberg, Ben. “Film Review: 'The Mask You Live In'.” Variety, Variety, 6 Feb. 2015,

variety.com/2015/film/reviews/film-review-the-mask-you-live-in-1201425440/#.

Newsom, Jennifer Siebel. “The Mask You Live In.” Thought Maybe, Thought Maybe, 1 Jan. 1970,

thoughtmaybe.com/the-mask-you-live-in/.

Appendices:

Appendix 1

Appendix 2
Appendix 3

Appendix 4