Fragile Masculinity Script (Project 1)

Fade into a women in a suit in a law firm office

Have you felt that you’re not man enough to fit into society?

Do you feel if you do anything “girly”, you’ll be made fun of?

Have you ever thought this woman must be gay because she dosnt like you/

Hi my name is _ and I represent the law firms of _

If you or a loved one has experienced any of these scenarios or the ones below you may have been exposed to Fragile Masculinity 

A banner appears at the bottom of the screen flashing to quick to read

You may be entitled to financial compensation. Remember we don’t get paid unless you win.

Pan out with a voice explaining all the legal information really to fast to hear except to hear the occasional word or two and fade to black

When I first got this project, I knew I wanted to do something with the concept of fragile masculinity. Before continuing, the definition of fragile masculinity is simply a man who tries to hard to fit into male stereotypes out of fear of looking too feminine in front of society. This theme is found throughout fiction going back to possibly the creation of printed text. In fairy tales we see the common trope of the heroic knight saving a damsel from some sort of distress. We also see the strong hero that goes off to slay the beast and win over the girl. these tropes have had long stretches through history and affects the media that we consume to this very day. Its manly to watch football and action films and not manly to watch rom-coms or the ballet. If we observe the texts that we have read so far, this them comes apparent.

In Beowulf, we see fragile masculinity intertwined with the sense of honor. Here we see Beowulf do what he does to the warriors code. These warriors have nothing except for their honor. We see this at its most prominent moment in the mead hall. Beowulf has one of his great stories challenged by another soldier. Beowulf without a beat, called the man drunk, questioned his honor, and told an even more epic tale to win over the crowd. Beowulf does this to preserve his honor and without his honor, he would never be considered a warrior. We also see this overarching them throughout the epic, of Beowulf avenging his brethren by killing the monsters himself. It not only follows the classic an eye for an eye, but him doing these tasks by himself was to preserve, you guessed it, his honor.

In Marie De Frances Lanval, we the fragile masculinity shine so all can see what is happening. Here we see our hero Lanval approached by a gorgeous woman who says that he can have her as long as he keeps her secret. Lanval keeps his promise until confronted by Gwenivere, wife to King Arthur. She flirts with Lanval and when he turns her down, she asks the following:

People have told me again and again
That women offer you no pleasure–
With a few well-schooled young men
You prefer to pass your leisure.

Yes, Gwenivere accuses Lanval of being gay, and how does Lanval respond? He lets it slip that there is a women far more attractive than her that he is seeing and in doing so braking the one rule there was. Lanval would rather give up the perfect woman than for everyone to assume he was gay. If that’s not fragile masculinity, I don’t know what is. To compare this to modern day examples, I will now include movie posters of manly films and those that might be femine. To even solidify this point, I am pulling these films from a list called 101 Manliest Movies Ever Made. The caption A man is known by the movies he watches.

Picking up on a theme? Their all action related, and a majority of them involve gangsters. For the feminne movies, I am using a list called 57 All Time Best Chick Flicks Perfect For Girls Night.

As you can see the theme here is all about relationships, weddings, and friendship. As a guy, you are told that you should not feel this films cause their to girly. As a girl, these are the films that you should be watching, not The Godfather or Goodfellas. The reason? Thats the way society is and intertwined with it? Fragile Masculinity