Muscle men like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Vin Diesel have all stepped out of their normal heroic roles to participate in films where they portray previous crime busters, and military men and find a soft place in their hearts to care for children. These roles go completely against their typical hard body, action persona. This emerging trend began in the 1990’s with Schwarzenegger taking on Kindergarten Cop, Followed soon after in 1993 with Hogan playing Mr. Nanny, and this idea was brought up again in 2005 with Diesel playing a babysitter in The Pacifier. All these men have played significant action roles that have gained them their position in Hollywood, and one has to wonder why they choose to play these roles. Susan Jeffords recognizes the link between this trend and political/societal changes that represent a change in American’s expectations of gender roles in her article “Hard Bodies.” Jeffords points out that the rise of feminism and other societal changes redefined the role of men in society. Seeing a star like Schwarzenegger, who followed his role in Kindergarten Cop with Terminator 2, one of his most famous roles, clearly saw social benefit to taking on a very different character. “Kindergarten Cop anticipates the endings of many 1991 films that are resolved through a man’s return to his family” (Jeffords, 143). While, “the Terminator films offer male viewers an alternative to the declining workplace and national structure as source of masculine authority and power – the world of the family” (Jeffords, 170). Jeffords clearly lays out how the societal change that was taking place was reflected in films. Schwarzenegger was a huge part of this representation of the new male in very different ways in Kindergarten Cop and Terminator 2.
What are the changes taking place in our current society of the depiction of "male" and what films have reflected this change?
Jeffords discusses the representation of men and women in Disney films, particularly Beauty and the Beast, how have modern Disney films changed their portrayal of men when compared to "classic" Disney films?
What are other ways that Schwarzenegger's persona and depiction of what is masculine changed throughout his career? What films show this?
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Supplemental Post #2: Response:
As I was writing about Schwarzenegger's extreme masculinity in my core post, I started to think about how masculinity has changed drastically since the movie came out. Like you and Jeffords noted, Schwarzenegger retired his action star persona and opted for more family-friendly movies and characters, including "Kindergarten Cop" and "Mr. Nanny." Schwarzenegger was showing off a new side of masculinity, the family man side.
I think since then, Hollywood has definitely portrayed a toned-down masculine man. Action heroes are smaller (Tobey Maguire's Spiderman would be no match for the Terminator). When I think of those that represent masculinity in Hollywood, I can come up with: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Robert Downey Jr., all of whom are absolutely no match to the Terminator, in fact, they bear very little resemblance to the uber-masculine Terminator that was so popular 20 years ago.
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