The construction of masculinity in The Matrix

Koller Nóra

2012

06. Bölcsészettudományok

06.04. Művészetek (művészetek, művészettörténet, előadóművészetek, zene)

06.04.05. Film, rádió és televíziótanulmányok

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different modes of representation The Matrix offers in connection with the construction of genders. Depicting a process of initiation and development, the film has for its major objective the production of a solo male protagonist that will fulfill the role of saving the world and humanity from the apocalyptic danger of late capitalist economy. This mission capitalizes on the sexual division of labor, and is a commonplace characteristic of films in the science fiction genre. The construction of the hero, however, is represented in a unique and contradictory way, especially with respect to the nostalgic conceptualization of gender and sexuality, and the phenomenon of the crisis of masculinity as the theoretical context for the formation of identity. I will investigate the points of tension in the film narrative that can be seen as ideologically biased, given that the focus of The Matrix is a process of self-unification that is in accordance with the possible expectations of a heteropatriarchal society. The development of this dominant order is simultaneous with that of its symbolic figure as we get closer to the climax of the film. My claim is that in the formation of both the self and the social, two intertwining processes, performances of masculinities and femininities are determining. As a result of the homogenizing perspective of the film, femininity and masculinity come to be defined in terms of each other, treated as mutually exhaustive categories. The final celebration of the triumphal, self-identical masculinity is, however, in contrast with the homoeroticism that the relationships between male characters are invested with throughout the film. The ascension of heteronormative masculinity reinforces a hierarchy of genders and sexualities, stabilizing femininity as passive embodiment that is defined against the abstract, hyperactive masculinity The Matrix manages to find in its uncertain hero.

magyar

angol

Könyv része

NonPeerReviewed

part

http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/68855/1/papers_022_159-182.pdf

Koller Nóra: The construction of masculinity in The Matrix. In: Papers in English and American studies : Tomus XXII. - Distinguished Szeged student papers, (22). pp. 159-182. (2012)

http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/68855/