Society's Existing Concept Of Maleness example essay topic

Society has a cookie cut concept of what it means to act manly and to act womanly. Men are supposed to be rough, tough, aggressive by nature, sex driven, and above all strong- physically and mentally. Women are supposed to be feminine, nurturing, caring, and innocent. Within the films Fight Club and Y Tu Mamma Tambien, the main characters struggle with these expectations. The main character in Fight Club, Ed Norten's character, subconsciously desires to be the "manly" man that society expects. He wants it so bad in fact that he creates an alter ego, Tyler Durden, whom he lives vicariously through.

His alter ego creates fight clubs, a manly way of proving strength and aggressive behavior, and has an enormous sex drive, which he clearly puts to use with Marla, and in a nutshell, portrays the manly man that society expects. The conflict is that becomes obsessed with the alter ego he has created and tries to become it, and when he discovers that the alter ego is not actually human, he cannot come to grips with it. So much so, that he commits suicide. This, needless to say, totally contradicts society's existing concept of maleness, more specifically, the concept that men are supposed to be strong minded. Suicide shows the ultimate weakness. Ed Norten's character was a leach.

He fed off of other people's lives because he was too weak to live his own. In the beginning of the film he used people from the self-help groups and then he used his imaginary friend Tyler. The fact that Ed Norten's character was so obsessed with becoming the manly man that society embraces proves that that is what society expects of men and reinforces the concept. The ironic twist is that while he is so obsessed with being strong-minded and physically, he is actually mentally unstable and weak, to the point where he commits suicide. I believe that this resolution, if you call suicide a resolution, then challenges the concept of "maleness" as he acts out of weakness and inability to cope with reality. So as much as the concept that men should act "manly" is not thrown away, the concept that men can certainly be weak is interjected.

The traditional concept of what is means to be a woman is definitely not observed in this film. Marla is not your typical Mary Sunshine. She has a mind of her own, has a very aggressive nature, and has a sex drive to match Tyler Durden's. This is shown most obviously in her interaction with the men inside Tyler's house. When she isn't in the bedroom with Tyler, she is on a rampage about him. Personally, as much as I find her character abrasive, I enjoy how her character does not give in to the traditional ideas of how women should behave.

In Y Tu Mamma Tambien, the main characters, Tenoch and Julio struggle to prove to themselves and to each other that they are the extremes of "maleness". In their eyes, they base there ideas of maleness on sex, primarily having as much of it as possible with as many people as possible. This idea is very typical among men and is pretty common to a man's perception of what is means to be a man. The main conflict of the film is that both of the friends tell each other that they have slept with each other's girlfriends. This truth is let out of the bag out of spite because Tenoch sleeps with Luisa first and as a result they are furious with each other and are quick to make the other feel inferior. I think this re-enforces what society, particularly women's perception, labels "maleness".

First and foremost, they are so competitive with each other. They make sleeping with Luisa a competition. They also are spiteful and jealous. As soon as Tenoch wins the competition, Julio acts out of spite and jealousy when he tells Tenoch about sleeping with his girlfriend. Also, the way that the problem is resolved re-enforces women's perception of maleness. They cannot handle the events that followed their arguments; the fact that they slept with each other; and go their separate ways.

Women always say that the typical male reaction to conflict is to ignore it and avoid confrontation. The definition that women give of "maleness" is displayed in this movie to perfection. Society's concept of "woman" is seen in a very interesting light in this movie. As I mentioned before, I think that the idea of what it means to be a woman should be altered, as time has changed and our roles should be changed with them. Women are given much more power in society now, and Luisa's character reinforces that idea. She has basically has the two men wrapped around her finger and they agree to act according to her plans.

She is the one who initiates sex with them. She also carries the burden of her cancer alone. All of her actions display her strength and power as a woman. So, in that light, the new concept of "woman" is enforced, but at the same time, the old traditional idea of "woman" is tossed out the window. The two films show the concepts of "maleness" and "femaleness" in interesting lights. It goes to show that as much as society likes to label people, there really is no one way to define who we are and how we should act, as times are always changing, and there are always exceptions to the rules.