Steve Neale claims that the construction of masculinity in film is riddled with contradictions.

Discuss Neale’s claim in relation to ONE film drawn from the module, and ONE OTHER
theoretical work (NB: Laura Mulvey’s feminist critique of spectatorship is the model Neale
addresses in his essay and therefore a good source for comparison, although not the only one).
In which ways does Neale address both the images of men produced by cinema, and the
processes of identification? In order to answer this question, briefly address how Neale’s work
revises and expands the critical focus on images of women in film.

Within Steve Neale’s piece ‘Masculinity as a Spectacle’1 he firstly posits the idea that there are two
facets and inherent contradictions within the portrayal of masculinity in film. This is due to the idea
revolving the spectator, that the active participation in watching male protagonists is both a
scopophilic act but also a narcissistic act. There is an underlying voyeuristic and fetishtic relationship
between the spectator and male hero. However, the contradiction stems from the latter idea, that
further to this voyeurism there is sense of narcissism, which Neale posits asserts as an ‘on-screen
surrogate’ to which the spectator identifies. Thus, we see the dichotomy between spectating passively
and actively identifying.

Laura Mulvey, a feminist film critic, details this from a feminist perspective. She relates this not only
to the juxtaposing portrayal of women on screen, but further to this, how the male ego and hero is
exemplified as a result of the misogynistic depiction of women. In her 1975 work ‘Visual Pleasure
and Narrative Cinema’2 she establishes womens’ role within film as being a direct relation to the
value given to them from men as a result of the patriarchal structure. Women are defined by, as she
posits, their “looked-at-ness” being their capacity for men to derive pleasure from their appearance.
She takes a psychoanalytic perspective to reveal the unconscious patriarchy within film. Both Mulvey
and Neale concede that this unconscious bias is related to Freud’s 1905 ‘Three Essays on the Theory
of Sexuality’3 in which he details the Oedipus complex. Freud illustrates our childhood biases that
internalise patriarchy. Young boys have an initial unconscious desire for the opposite sex parent and as
a result a hatred for the same sex parent as they compete for the affection of the opposite sex parent.
However, in terms of patriarchy it later manifests in the phallic stage. As boys develop castration
anxiety and girls develop penis envy, thus a subconscious idea of power relating to the penis and male
physiology manifests. Neale relates this castration anxiety as him repressing his feelings for his
mother and thus looking to identify himself with his father rather than compete. This in turn, creates
the male infantile super ego in which it can lead a boy to become ‘aggressive, over-ambitious and a
vain man’. Thus both children at the early stages look to the male figure for validation, which
manifests in film as women looking to be validated by men for their sexuality and beauty. For men
they seek to gain a sense of power and validation through power struggles with other men. All
ultimately resulting in women being subjugated and left to derive their worth from male validation.

1
Steve Neale, “Masculinity as a Spectacle: Reflection on Men and Mainstream Cinema.” Masculinity
as a Spectacle 23 (1993): 2–17.
2
Laura Mulvey,'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', Screen Autumn, (1975) vol 16 no 3, pp 6-18.
3
Sigmund Freud (1905). “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality Chapter II: Infantile Sexuality. (7).
The Sources of Infantile Sexuality.” PsycEXTRA Dataset, December 1971.
This corresponds in film, to women being objects of pleasure for the male gaze and are simply used to
drive narrative.

The idea of scopophilia relates to deriving pleasure from objects, here it corresponds to the male form
and subsequent action. Rodowick in his essay 'The Difficulty of Difference’4 details the idea that the
male star is the object of the initial gaze, however refutes the claim of it being eroticism. As the son
looks towards his father as a result of castration anxiety, the male characters on screen become, the
‘on screen surrogate’. Further to this, as they look to the male protagonist, they seek the on screen
action to fulfill these phantasies, revolving power struggles and sexual encounters to fulfill such male
ego. This manifests in film as Rodowick states the male genre’s having sado-masochistic themes in
which male heroes are the object of the spectator gaze, possibly an erotic gaze.

This is evident within John Ford’s 1962 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance as we see this three man
power struggle come to violent ends. A poignant moment we see this displayed is in the titular scene
as Tom Stoddard and Liberty Valance have a show down in a gun duel. The two men stand on a
platform by the saloon bar. Rance beckons Stoddard stating to come closer into the light where he can
have a better look at him. From the shots we see Stoddard's silhouette bathed in light as the men make
eye contact and tension rises. The men produce their gun’s and clicks of the barrel heighten the
tension. Not only does this fulfill sadomasochism, but the duel with guns creates the weapon as a
phallic source of sexuality and aggression, linking these two male egoic fantasies. Thus, the
voyeuristic spectator is satisfied at this display of male aggression.

Looking at the colosseum barbarian fight scene in Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic Gladiator we see male
pleasure being taking out of violence on screen from Commodus. In this scene we see Maximus pull
the men together to fight against the legionaries, we see them huddle close together using their shields
to protect each other. However, as the action unfolds we witness Maximus almost single-handedly
defeat the legionaries and in a last effort mount a chariot horse to slit the throats of passing
legionaries. Emperor Commodus, as he watches from his throne, sticks out his tongue in delight at
the violent action, showing the pleasure derived from this male violence. Within this scene, and the
film as a whole, there are evident homoerotic dynamics, however, through editing this clash of bodies
are cut up. The colosseum itself is lined with male Roman statues and past emperors sustaining this
male idolatry. This depicts the homoeroticism found in ancient historical epics, fantasising about the
muscular bodies of gladiators yet not making this inherently apparent.
Focus can be drawn on the idea of Roman statues and underlying homosexuality. This is an
apparent symbol in Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 Call Me By Your Name as the queer love story
intertwines itself with Helenistic and Greek classical references. We see this initially as both
protagonists Elio and Oliver uncover a bronze of a young man or kouros that is raised by divers from
the waters of Lake Garda. The Professor describes the statue to be a Hellenistic copy of one of

4
D. N. Rodowick 'The Difficulty of Difference,' Wide Angle 5 (1982): 4-15.
Praxiteles’ originals. However, he also mentions that after the second century the pope melted down
one of the pair of the statues previously owned by Roman Emperor Hadrian, to create “a particularly
voluptuous Venus.” This scene evokes ‘The Birth of Venus’ as the statue is reclaimed from the sea.
However, it is a greater symbol of powerful emperors and greek statues showing underlining
homosexuality as the statues previous owner Hadrian is said to have had a male lover, Andrian. This
idea of the fantasisation of classically masculine statues invoking and underlying homosexuality is
pointed out by the Professor as he shows slides of such statues stating "Muscles are firm, not a straight
body in these statues. They're all curved, sometimes impossibly curved, and so nonchalant, hence
their ageless ambiguity—as if they're daring you to desire them " with the notion of “impossibly
curved” alluding to the idea of sexuality as a spectrum being that men can have homosexual
tendencies5.
Thus, what I draw upon in all these films, is the hypermasculine presentations and subsequent
spectator scophilia, is an evident auto-eroticism of the male figure. With this, I would reject Rodrick’s
argument and agree with Neale that the gaze is of an erotic gaze from men to the male character.

Alternatively looking at the narcissistic aspect, spectators shift from passive to active. We can look at
this narcissism and male dynamic within the steak scene of ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’.
There is a narcissism when looking at male heroic figures, with the movie screen being a mirror, at a
subconscious level the spectator identifies parts of themselves with the character on screen. However,
at the other level in the subconscious there is an aspirational aspect. The male figure creates desire by
being elusive and not entirely objectified. The white, able-bodied male is an invisible signifier, with
full frontal male nudity not shown. The desire is created by not being entirely available. However, the
power of the male body depends on us looking at it, so it highlights certain gestures or objects.

There is also a further contraction in regards to narcissism, within itself, that being narcissism and the
law. This being the dichotomy between narcissistic authority and social authority. Which is what we
see within The Man who shot liberty Valance. As the trio of men represents wavering sides of this
contradiction, with Rance being in the middle of the spectrum of the two men. Within this Mulvey
discusses women’s role in suppressing men. Wendy chapman Peek discusses in her work on “The
Romance of Competence: Rethinking Masculinity in the Western” 6she discusses the symbolism of
marriage within western films and its affect on masculinity. Ultimately the image that men identify
with and fetishise is one of power and ego. As Neale posits that “narcissism involves fantasies of
power, omnipotence, mastery and control”. Thus, any threat to this power is looked down upon.
Mulvey discuss this portrayal of women and marriage through Vladimir Propp’s analyses of russian
folk tales. She states “nostalgic narcissism generates a common splitting of the Western hero into two,
something unknown in the Proppian tale”7. Within this split there are two functions “one celebrating

5
Benjamin Eldon Stevens,(2018) "Classical Desires in Call Me by Your Name” Antiquipop, Lyon
6
Wendy Chapman Peek “The Romance of Competence: Rethinking Masculinity in the Western”,
Journal of Popular Film and Television, 30 (2003):4, 206-219
7
Vladimir Propp, (1968) Morphology of the Folktale, Austin: University of Texas Press.
integration into society through marriage, and the other celebrating resistance to social standards and
responsibilities, above all those of marriage and the family, the sphere represented by women” this
dynamic is evident in the juxtaposition of masculinity of Rance Stoddard and Tom Doniphon. Rance
Stoddard represents the socially integrated and subservient man who marries, in contrast, we have the
hyper masculine Tom Doniphon who resists these social conventions and portrays the male power
struggle and ego through violence. Women are supressed and overpowered as they threaten this male
egoic power. Even when Rance seemingly defeats Liberty Valance and gains his personal power, it is
revealed that actually Tom Doniphon shot Liberty from the shadows. Thus portraying the non-socially
integrated male to be the victor. We see these men embody the two male function with Tom Doniphon
as the narcissistic anachronistic social outsider and rance stoddart as civilised and married. Thus, the
overall representation within the film is that women are a threat to this narcissistic male ego.
Whilst it can be agreed that this homoeroticism plays out in the form of sado-masochistic
action, ultimately the more domesticated and educated man prevails and Tom realises he will never
win over Hallie. Therefore there are conflicting arguments as to whether the male homosexuality is
concealed by marriage or if there are homosexual undertones present in the narrative. We can also
apply this theme to the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde , as bonnie tries to quell and engage in relation
with Clyde barrow, however her attempts are unsuccessful, as her attempts to seduce are not
reciprocated. Here we have the character of Clyde barrow presenting these sado-masochistic acts and
being hyper masculine, whilst also refuting female ties. However, it can also be inferred here that
Clyde is a closeted homosexual as the pair never engage in sexual acts and lies to his brother about
doing such things. Within Geoffrey Macnab’s essay “Song of the Open Road”8 he states that Bonnie
turns to crime because she finds her attempts to fill this appetite for the exotic by way of sex
unsuccessful, through previous, implied encounters, but also with Clyde. Paradoxically, despite the
excitement provided by crime “The only reaction to this excitement that is available to Bonnie is
sexual, the means by which her ego expresses itself” Thus, here we can see the link presented between
sexuaity and violence on screen, within the presentation of the male there is a link in the fetishisation
for violence. Male voyeurism is satisfied through sadomasochistic rather than presenting sexual
relation.

Ultimately, the contradiction and dichotomy within masculinity and spectatorship is between their
passive an active roles as viewers. The spectator both has a voyeuristic pleasure in watching the
action, but also sees themself within the character. Thus, the viewer cannot be completely passive or
entirely active, it is through this we see the conflicting views towards masculinity in film.

Bibliography

8
Geoffrey Macnab “Song of the Open Road” Sight and Sound 9.8 (1999) : 58-59. FIAF Plus.
Chapman Peek, Wendy (2003) The Romance of Competence: Rethinking Masculinity in the
Western, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 30:4 (2003), 206-219

Freud, Sigmund (1905). “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality Chapter II: Infantile
Sexuality. (7). The Sources of Infantile Sexuality.” PsycEXTRA Dataset, December 1971.

Girgus, Sam B. "Representative Men: Unfreezing the Male Gaze." College Literature 21, no.
3 (1994): 214-22.

Glushanok, Paul "BONNIE AND CLYDE." Cinéaste 1, no. 2 (1967):14-17

Mulvey, Laura 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', Screen Autumn, vol 16 no 3 (1975),
pp 6-18.

Neale, Steve. 'Chariots of Fire, Images of Men,' Screen 23.(1982) 3-4: 47-53.

Neale, Steve, “Masculinity as a Spectacle: Reflection on Men and Mainstream Cinema.”

Masculinity as a Spectacle 23 (1993): 2–17.

Propp, V. (1968) Morphology of the Folktale, Austin: University of Texas Press.

Rodowick, D. N. 'The Difficulty of Difference,' Wide Angle 5(1982): 4-15.

Safouan, Moustapha, 'Is the Oedipus Complex Universal?', nos 5/6, (1981), pp 85-87.

Stevens, Benjamin Eldon (2018) "Classical Desires in Call Me by Your Name” Antiquipop,
Lyon

Filmography

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) Dir. John Ford

Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Dir. Arthur Penn

Gladiator (2000) Dir. Scott Ridley

Call Me By your Name (2017) Dir. Luca Guadigino