The Uncastrated Man: The Irrationality of Masculinity Portrayed in Cinema

In the margins of the cinematic and video film cultures one finds genres which the serious and more intellectual moviegoer usually will regard with scorn. These films are often dismissed on the ground that they merely indulge in violence, totally lacking psychological profundity and credibility. To this group belong cop films like Dirty Harry, science fiction thrillers like Alien, war machine films like Rambo, and the whole row of gore, splatter, and horror films. Unrestrained violence, dismemberments, gushes of blood and studied horror effects are commonplace. Produced in large numbers, they often display stereotyped and predictable dramatic effects and the psychological story seldom reaches deeper levels. Presumably most of these films are items for quick consumption, while a few attain the status of “cult movies.”

“Cultishness” goes further than that, however, for in themselves these films seem to be a kind of ritual where a seemingly identical dramatic structure is reiterated many times over, but of course always within the thematic boundaries set up by each genre. I find such ritual repetition of dramatic themes to express an epoch's need to explore an experience that as yet has not been adequately formulated and thematized. As a consequence of fundamental changes in the social sphere, the individual finds himself standing before the unknown, demanding a response in the form of new attitudes, new explanations, or new social forms. The yet unformulated is at this stage a sort of enigma or mystery. Surely, the dramatic form can only retain the ungraspable nature of the mystery, but the manner in which it fascinates and captures the senses testifies to the presence of a connection between a deeper experience in the audience and the themes being repeated. And as long as the decisive issue remains merely staged as a