Film Review: Tough Guise

1.The main thesis of this film is that men feel like they need to be violent, masculine and tough to be considered real men. They need to hate women, gays, and anything feminine to prove to themselves and the rest of society that they have what it takes to be a man. Also, the main point is that men in today's society put up a "tough guise" front which emphasizes phyiscal strength and gaining the respect of others through violence. 

2.The best example of how the thesis is backed up is in the beginning minutes of the film when a group of men are interviewed and asked to describe in one word what a real man is, here is what they said: "tough, physical, strong, independent, powerful, respected, intimidating, rugged, athletic, muscular." Similarly, the men were asked what you get called if you don't meet these standards and they said: "pussy, soft, queer, emotional, girly, whimp, fag." Its clear from these interviews that men in today's society have a clear understanding of how they should be acting and know exactly how they will be viewed if they don't act that way. 

3. In the book, "Readings in Deviant Behavior" there is an entire section devoted to physical violence. According to the book, most physical violence crimes are committed by men and according to the movie this violence is the direct result of societies social construction of "real men" needing to be tough and in control. The piece, " What Triggers School Shootings?" highlights the homophobic bullying that goes on in most high schools and states that 97% of highs school aged students reported hearing homophobic remarks from their peers. This film relates to the class because the image of hyper-masculinity that the media tries to sell us is impossible to imitate but men in society are not real men unless they try to mirror what they see in the media. 

4.The points that I find most convincing the ones about violence and though men in the media. For example, the size of GI Joe action figures has increased dramatically since the 50's, in fact when blown up to scale, their biceps are larger than any realistic size. It just goes to show you how much this society values size. I found the video clip " Height and the Perception of Success" very interesting because it proved a few different points that "Tough Guise" is trying to convey. It shows that society views size as a symbol of success. 

5. The points I found least convincing were the ones made about movies, music and video games. Although I agree that movies, music and video games contribute to the problem, I don't think they are as pertinent as the film makes them to be. My main basis in thinking this is that there are violent movies, music and video games in other cultures and societies as well and they are not as male centered or violent as our society. 

6. It is clear that masculinity is very prevalent in society. It is also clear that men know exactly what it takes to be a "real man" in today's society. It would be interesting to study how early on in life boys start constructing what a "real man" is. I would design a cross sectional study of boys ages 5-12 and survey them about what it takes to be "man." The boys will be administered the same survey and will be evaluated based on how prevalent the idea of masculinity is in their thought process.