Notes from Book

-> Film as 'Window to the World': The media, it was argued, are manipulated by the ruling patriarchal ideology and what is seen as natural, as clear-cut and obvious, is in fact construct produced by society. This ambivalence about the 'meaning' of film and other media suggests its interpretation by the audience may be different to that intended by the film-maker.

-> Masculinity as unproblematic: Defining the masculine as the 'norm' and the female as 'the other' may be valid at a patriarchal norm in Hollywood classic cinema, but if gender is a social construction then constructions of gender in film are not absolute and therefore are far more complex.

-> Masculinity is associated wih voyeurism, action, sadism, fetishism and the controling narrative, whilst femininity is associated with passivity etc. Yet these clear distinctions belie the acute anxieties and paradoxes which emerge when studying fil; the binary opposites of masculinity and femeninity are in fact much less opaque than may at first be apparent.

-> The male hero in in classical hollywood cinema is usually recognised as powerful. He signifies omnipotence, mastering the narrative, being in control, sadistic rather than masochistic. Neale argues that the elements of violence and voyeurism in Antony Mann's films in fact suggests a 'repressed homosexual voyeurism'.

-> The myth presented regarding masculinity is that it is natural , normal and universal. This myth is repeated by stories and images we see in the media and especially Hollywood films. Yet despite the certainty, the surety with which masculine identities are portrayed, closer examination reveals that masculinity is much less stable and much more easily undermined than previously thought.

-> Barabara Creed (1987-65) suggests that the muscle-bound hero of the 1980's cinema can be understood in terms of post-modernity, of playing with the notion of manhood, and argues that the muscular hero is a 'simulcra of an exagerated masculinity, the original lost to sight'.#

->Generic Pleasures: Genre works to stabilize or regulate particular desires, expectations and pleasures offered by the cinema. On this account, while genre is not simply an institutionalised strategy to delimit choice, if we choose to watch, say, a horror film then we expect certain pleasures in return.

-> The masculine body as spectacle and performer, having a performative function, is a key theme of Hollywood film, particularly action films of the 1980's.
Hard (1988) reflects on the lack of control for the male in the workplace, where the hero finds himself in impossible situations controlled by incompetent bureaucracies.

An Introduction to film studies (third edition) : Nelmes, Jill (2003), England, Routledge

Other books I looked at:-
March of the Hooligans: Soccer's Bloody Fraternity (2007), Brimson, Dougie: England, Virgin Books

Bring Out Your Riot Gear - Hearts Are Here!: Gorgie Aggro, 1981-86 (1999): Ferguson, C.S, Terrace Banter

Who Wants It? : Henderson, Chris (2000) :England, Mainstream Publishing