Core Response - Big Men: Masculinity & Genre

In The Spy in the Gray Flannel Suit, Steve Cohan begins by reflecting on the poster of North by Northwest, taking into account the awkward and unstable positioning of Carry Grant’s free falling body. The image of Eva Marie Saint in the background, gun in hand appears to be the cause of Carry Grants spectacular fall. Cohan goes on to explain how this poster is displaying the unsettling idea of masculinity in crisis, relating Cary Grants fall to the fear of emasculation in the fifties.    

It was interesting to read about how many aspects were tied into this idea of masculinity during the fifties. Like how marriage was something that would define a man’s maturity and success but if a man was not married and easily tempted by women he was seen as weak and immature, demeaning to his masculinity. In North by Northwest we witness a change in Roger’s character from selfish bachelor to motivated hero as he rescues and proposes to Eve, showing his transformation from once challenging the ideas of masculinity to then conforming to them by settling down and finally “accepting responsibility of a woman”.

 I find this resolution of Roger’s masculinity interesting because although he is rebelling against the ideas of what it meant to be a man the 50s, he still maintains the masquerade of a successful, educated and desired man. A question that I kept asking was: When audiences in the fifties saw North by Northwest, did they see Cary Grants as an emasculated male or did they simply see the classic leading man that was Cary Grant? Did his “star image” overshadow his character's masculinity crisis? I think that many people overlooked the many flaws and rebellious nature of Roger Thornhill’s masculinity because all they could see was the star persona of the iconic leading man Cary Grant.