Crisis in masculinity – Brazilian Cinema – City of God
Masculinity means “the characteristics that are
traditionally though to be typical of or suitable for men” (Cambridge
Dictionary). What American Psychological Association describes as “traditional masculinity”
traits are stoicism, competitiveness ,
dominance and aggression. In cinema virility is shown in different ways, as the
society’s view on those characteristic changes with time. As an example we can
look at Hollywood, where for a very long time the archetype of a man, would be
someone who has a muscular body, who is strong, tough, confident, dominant, someone who
is a fighter. With changes in the society like increase of feminism calling for
gender equality, long crisis and decline of heavy industries, films started
showing men as more caring, family oriented and with domestic interests. Yet,
modern cinema still has figures of a men who are just emotionless fighters.
This influences the way society thinks about men, it makes it difficult to get
rid of the stereotype. At
the same time we can observe a new notion where different sides of masculinity
are being explored.
Brazilian cinema faces this problem a lot. Looking at Cinema
and Society: Investigation on the Impact of Gender Representation in Brazilian
Film, research made by Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media we can
clearly see tendencies in Brazilian cinema. It shows that films have very stereotypical
approaches towards gender roles as they show mostly macho man in charge,
hyper-sexualise women as well as portray them in traditional ways.
City of God by Fernando
Mirelles and Katia Lund tells a story that take place in a favela in Rio de
Janeiro. It manly concentrates on black men and their masculinity. The learning
process of required features of “the man” starts in the childhood. A good
example is Li’l Ze who from the very young age was watching hoods and his
biggest desire was to be the boss in the favela. He killed people in the motel
with a smile on his face, and to avoid punishment he was living on his own.
Li’l
Ze’s virility starts shaping very early, in his childhood he already seeks for
power, respect, independence, he is aggressive, courageous. At the age of
eighteen he is the most respected and feared hood in the community. That is not
enough for him, he takes control over the whole favela. The only person whose opinion
is respected by Benny, his friend form childhood. During the killing of all the
dealers, Carrot is the only one who is spares, as he was Benny’s friend. The
one thing that Li’l Ze needs to be a “true man” is a woman, who is difficult
for him to find, because of his ugliness. He ask a girl to dance with him but
she refuses. Lil’Z hates this act of humiliation and makes her boyfriend, Ned,
strip naked while pointing a gun at him. Later he and his gang make Ned watch
his girlfriend being raped as well as they kill his brother and uncle. Li’l Ze represents a lot of characteristics of toxic mascunility.
City of God shows a stereotypical masculinity and its worst
sides, where the whole society surrounded by violence because one man wants to
be a “real man”.
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D.W.
Foster, (1999), Gender and Society in
Contemporary Brazilian Cinema, University of Texas, Press.
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