Open AccessDown Eros, Up Mars! Postmęskość w filmach Williama Wylera
Author(s) -
Rafał Szczerbakiewicz
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
śląskie studia polonistyczne
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2353-0928
pISSN - 2084-0772
DOI - 10.31261/ssp.2020.15.09
Subject(s) - trilogy , hollywood , modernity , masculinity , aesthetics , deconstruction (building) , trope (literature) , narrative , sociology , heteronormativity , gender studies , art , art history , literature , political science , human sexuality , law , engineering , waste management
The article speaks to the deconstruction of men’s images in William Wyler’s films. One may observe a different paradigm of what is male in the said director’s pacifist trilogy. The alternative masculinity utopias constructed therein are quite awe-inducing due to their emancipatory scope. Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country, and Ben-Hur (1959) are films depicting not only the fight against patriarchal stereotype, but also reaching beyond the restrictions of heteronormativity. The libidal coordinates of the narratives are in sync with biopolitical status of modernity. Surprisingly enough, at the heart of Hollywood some brave cinematic post-masculine projects were developed.