The Mask You Live In Documentary Analysis

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The Mask You Live In documentary explores how the United States of America’s obsession with the hyper-masculine ideal establishes fundamental problems in boys’ self-identification and social interactions. As an introduction to the premise, Tony Porter outlines what America collectively prescribes to for the maturing of boys into men: by age five, boys are taught that it is not okay to cry in public; by age 10, there is an expectation that boys have begun to perfect their stoic façade; by age twelve, it is considered a problem if boys are not able to perfectly uphold an emotionally detached front to the public; and by age fifteen, a loss of intimacy within friendship has deeply taken root. This general guideline is the foundation for analyzing the relevant theories of sociological juvenile delinquency.
Gender is the overarching core of this documentary. Hyper-masculinity is the socially-constructed conception that perpetuates specific stereotypes of what it means to “be a man.” Characteristics that conforming society attempts to attribute to the male psyche is embedded in linking masculinity with aggressive expressions, fostering an unhealthy competition for economic successes, and peddling the sexual conquest culture that degrades the link between both males and females. …show more content…
As identified in the merits of the social conflict theory, the stereotyping of certain characteristics as specifically “female” and then correlating that definition with derogatory implications devalues, degrades, and dehumanizes women. Tony Porter metaphorically commented, “If it would destroy him to be told he was playing like a girl, what are we teaching this boy about girls?” There are implications of our rhetoric straying from identifying women as human beings and shifting in a predatory and aggressive narrative. Rape culture is the result of this sort of unconscious
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