Title:
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Jealous masculinities and contemporary cinema
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It is widely argued that in contemporary Western societies, masculinity is in crisis.
Whether or not this alleged `crisis' represents a shift towards more positive and
reflexive masculinities has been the focus of much debate. Such debate provides
the context for this thesis. The thesis offers new insights into the psychic and
cultural shaping of masculinities by examining the possibilities for `good-enough'
masculinities within the shifting conditions of Western postmodern culture. It uses
psychoanalytic, cultural and social theories to explore contemporary masculinities
through a study of male jealousies and their representation in popular cinema.
Jealousy provides a useful case study to explore the alleged crisis of contemporary
masculinities because it indicates a capacity to tolerate the complex emotions of
wounded narcissism and feelings of loss that are said to characterise this crisis.
The thesis argues that jealousy occupies a central place in the psychosocial shaping
of Western masculinities. Historically, it has played a key role in guarding and
defining men's social and emotional boundaries. However, the cultural rules of
entitlement and possession are in flux, and the cultural codes surrounding male
jealousies are becoming less clear. The thesis discussion develops through the
analysis of representations of male jealousies in recent popular films, where the
possessive gaze of the hero and the emotional and moral outcomes of jealous
triangles are often ambiguous. Such ambiguity resonates with the popular cultural
trope of masculinity in crisis and the alleged feminisation of masculinity within
popular culture more generally. These themes are explored in depth through case
studies of four films, released in the 1990s, which examine their cultural reception
in the press and the possibilities for reflexive, `good-enough' formations of
masculinity in popular cinema. The thesis aims to contribute to the study of cinema
and the emotions by developing an interdisciplinary mode of analysis, which
captures the psychic, social and emotional nuances of the film text, and the cultural
context of its reception.
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