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Giving Hegemonic Masculinity a Face Lift: Masquerade in John Woo's Face/Off and the Somatechnics of Masculinity in Crisis
- Source :
- Somatechnics. 11:10-26
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Edinburgh University Press, 2021.
-
Abstract
- In 1990s America, the question of what made a ‘real’ man was at the forefront of debates about sex and gender. During this pivotal moment in American history, hegemonic masculinity in particular was experiencing numerous threats to its ontological security. For instance, masculinity was infamously pronounced in crisis, the advent of the ‘new man’ betrayed anxieties about an image-conscious and feminine performance of masculinity, and there was mounting social pressure from civil rights, feminist, and queer groups for straight, white, masculinity to be challenged as the centre of the patriarchal stage. In short, the issue for masculinity in the 90s was that of legitimacy. The response from Hollywood was an influx of films which featured leading men in costume, disguise, or masquerade. John Woo's Face/Off is one such film that betrays anxieties about the constructedness of hegemonic masculinity. Face/Off does so through the motif of plastic surgery. In this article, I will explore how Face/Off uses the image of plastic surgery to represent the masculinities of its male protagonists as masquerades. I will demonstrate how plastic surgery in Face/Off is a device which transforms hegemonic masculinity so that it may adapt to the climate of crisis and secure its continuation. Face/Off demonstrates that masculinity is a construct which masquerades as an ontology.
- Subjects :
- Sociology and Political Science
American history
media_common.quotation_subject
05 social sciences
050401 social sciences methods
Face (sociological concept)
Lift (soaring)
Human Factors and Ergonomics
Gender studies
Human-Computer Interaction
0504 sociology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Action (philosophy)
050903 gender studies
Masculinity
Sociology
0509 other social sciences
Anatomy
Law
Hegemonic masculinity
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20440146 and 20440138
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Somatechnics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........5738f08e89bbbdde31b037b4c5bfef26