Spider-man and Masculinity

The Gender Difficulty in American Society

The gender difficulty brings a lot of contradiction especially in the American society. Being a man or a female control what is to be finished in a certain place. In most of the instances, men have been associated with capacity to perform hard tasks. Comparing to the feminine gender, they are positioned in the society as superior beings in terms of policies and protection. Masculinity is described as the proof of manhood. The current community praises the ability of the man relying on the responsibilities which are assigned to him. The entire thing about manhood is a bit dehumanizing to male gender. Various psychologists have tried to argue in choose of the female (Koepp et al.120). They try to show how men have been subdued by the society through the kind of expectation they are expected to deliver.

The Confusion of Gender Roles in Culture

Looking at the whole idea of roles in a certain culture, one fails to understand what exactly humanity is. A confusion arise where one in terms of demarcations of what a man should do and on the other side the work of female. The society has come up with its own definition where man is subjected to a lot of pressure. Starting from the nature of work all the way to the final benefits. The harder they work, the more they are exposed to family and society expectations (Koepp et al.76). Are men instruments of work to continually engage in hard work without enjoyment? It is a satirical question to ask but it evidently shown in our society.

Masculinity in the Movie Spider-man

The topic is well illustrated from the movie Spider-man and Masculinity. From the preview of this movies, Spiderman is a character who has been shown to possess some extraordinary power. He has more than what a normal person is expected to have. The young person called Peter is bitten by a spider and gains extra energy and a muscular physiques (Sherlock and Marcia 98).

Society’s Expectations of Men and the Role of Breadwinners

The character is able to perform some extraordinary tasks with a lot of zeal. From the start of the movie, it is clear that the film uses male character. Why not a female character? The power gained by this character is used to make money. This is well quoted from the movie as Peter thinks that he has more energy, which can be linearly related to the output in terms of gaining. Notably, this scenario is even clear in our society (Sherlock and Marcia 76). Men have been placed as the sole breadwinners of the family. It is their work to feed families and use their energy to look for money. It starts with the young children who are growing and molded to be responsible men in the society. In most instances, the parents comments and orders the young to behave like men. They are shown what to do and specifically disregarded if they are found indulging in activities which do not signify manhood (Koepp et al. 65).

The Emotional Destructiveness of the Idea of Manhood

The idea itself of being a man is emotionally destructive since what strikes in the mind is being soldiery. This is where one is expected to deliver hard tasks. Anything flashy is not pegged to men. It is a condition which is socially harmful and disheartening. The movies greatly shows how Peter struggles to make ends meet. He uses his power to do the unimaginable. Traditionally, some cultures had certain roles for men and women. This is also evident in the current generation though not rampant as it was sometime back (Walton and Cotton 102). Some cultures believed that men were not to stay indoors. Women were the only beings who were supposed to reside around the homestead. The whole things circulates around the aspect of men being the kingpin in sourcing for goodies for the family.

Youths and the Pressure to Prove Masculinity

Youths are subverted to the idea of masculine in early stages. Although there is an opposite of this to women, where a young girl is trained to please adults. They do what they will receive compliment from the people. Young boys are sunk into the desert of proofing their manhood to the young girls. They desperately hunt for opposite gender to proof whom they are. One way the society has contributed to this notion is through training which is given to the young people. As it was alluded earlier, mothers have the tendency of encouraging young girls to remain attractive. This is a lure to the males, who now believes this is done on their behalf (Sherlock and Marcia 45).The movies also gives an idea masculinity through the character. Peter in this case believes he will use his masculinity to fight crime. Traditionally, men were elements to maintain peace and order in the society. Any form of security was handled by men, who were trained to be courageous enough to deal with such issue (Koepp et al.54).

Men as the Protectors of Society

They were considered mighty and leaders of the society. To achieve this objective young boys were trained since they were young on how to enhance security in the community. It was an informal training which did not any intelligent coaching. However, they were able to attain the objective of security. As the boy grew up to adults, they had already pre informed message regarding their role. The same case is still applicable. Looking at the security department in our country, the highest percentage constitute men. They have been leading in this area of security maintenance (Walton and Cotton 98). They are believed to have that unfearful hearts and handle major challenges in the country.

Peter Parker’s Struggle to Balance Masculinity and Love

The recruitment process they undergo is aimed to harden them and even be strong enough to be able to fight with the enemy. This is the exact character which is depicted by the Spider-Man. He considers the use of his power to fight crime within his area. His might can be elaborated by some of the activities he used to do (Walton and Cotton 98). The movie shows this character as a know everything. He is able to climb wall and some tricky places which a normal person cannot afford going. It is a completely replica of another world where superpowers are able to deal with the enemy. The courage which is shown by the character is enough to justify the masculinity in this movie.

The Feminization of Man and Confusion of Roles

At one instant of the movie, Peter Parker is seen struggling with management of time. He is too engrossed with school work and yet in love with Jane. He is unable to decide to continue with his work or concentrate with the love issue. He found himself indulging himself in femine activities such as poetry. The society has put some activities to be done by women while other by men. Feminization of man in America is witnessed in the current society (Sherlock and Marcia 87). Males are conducting activities which ideally were meant to be carried out of but women. Essentially, man was meant to do tasks which suffice his role. Peter is seen struggling to fit in professions which are dominated by female. Additionally, he is seen engaging I laundry activities. The worst part of it is that he fails to do it perfectly. What one can learn from this is that men are trying to fit in roles which does not belong to them.

The Negative Representation of Masculinity in Spider-man

Doing it the wrong way is an indication of failure to establish activities which belongs to men and women. The society has forgotten the manhood and generalized things. This is the source of problems which is happening and care needs to be taken to prevent forgetting what men are needed to do. Peter Parker is a clear representation of the new era of millennials which does not care of traditional morals (Sherlock and Marcia 76). Men are trying to represent themselves in different styles. In America, the case has gone beyond control. It is difficult to identify manhood traits in the so called men. The dressing style has been tailored to mimic what satisfies ones interest. There is no separation on what men wears.

The Character of Spider-man as a Negative Representation of Masculinity

The character is classified as negative representation of masculinity. Throughout the movies, one can be able to clearly identify most of the instances that the Spiderman is struggling with self. Some of the activities he indulges in are beyond the normal expectations of manhood. As it was discussed in the previous paragraphs, masculinity is the defining characteristics of men. For example, spider man is continually struggling with balancing between love and other class activities. This lands him in professions which are regarded as feminine (Walton and Cotton 45). This is a negative representation of masculinity. Men are believed to be able to solve pressure which comes from the work they indulge in. the character is used to show up some of the characters which are not appreciated as roles of men. In my opinion, he has been continually used to elaborate on the changes which have happened in the current world, where men have lost their esteem through failing to understand their roles.

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Bibliography

Koepp, David, Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, and Stan Lee. Spider-man. , 2015. 

Sherlock, Philip M, and Marcia Brown. Anansi the Spider Man: Jamaican Folk Tales. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean, 2011. Print. 

Walton, Izaak, and Charles Cotton. The Compleat Angler, Or, the Contemplative Man’s Recreation: Being a Discourse of Rivers, Ponds, Fish and Fishing Not Unworthy the Perusal of Most Anglers. , 2010. Internet resource.