Media Portrayals of Men and Masculinity

The general argument made by the Media Awareness Network in their work Media Portrayals of Men and Masculinity is that recently, the studies of men in the media have increased to show the same, but not equivalent, negative advertising that women receive. More specifically, the M.A.N. suggests that the way media portrays men and their roles are enforcing the ideas of how to be a “real” man in our society. The M.A.N. writes, “In most media portrayals, male characters are rewarded for self-control and the control of others, aggression and violence, financial independence, and physical desirability.” (pg. 538) In this passage, the M.A.N is suggesting that to be a “real” man, you need to control your emotions, you need to be aggressive, you need to make your own money, and you need to be attractive. In conclusion, it is the M.A.N’s belief that the media is enforcing false ideas of how to be a “real” man in our society today.

            In my view, the M.A.N is right because men really are portrayed as these unfeeling money making machines that will cut you down to get to the top. For example, in the movie The Holliday, Jude Law plays a man who falls in love with a woman, Cameron Diaz, and she is getting ready to go back home so she has to leave him and as she drives away he starts to cry and it is a really weird thing to see because you NEVER see men cry in movies. I want to add that a man that can cry is pretty sexy and they should cry and share their feelings more often. Although the M.A.N might object that there are tender scenes in movies, I maintain that you never see tears. Therefore, I conclude that the media does send a message to men about how they are supposed to act when really they don’t need to act like that at all.