Core Response

I actually laughed out loud while reading the majority of “Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era”. I was reminded of all the Reagan x Bush 84’ t-shirts I have seen around campus, and how prevalent the white man’s struggle is in media (and in politics) It is not surprising that with such representation of “the one who can transform himself from the hardened, muscle-bound, domineering man of the eighties into the considerate, loving, and self-sacrificing man of the nineties” is influenced by the political environment of the country. It was interesting to see it deconstructed in films like Terminator but also in Disney animation, intended for children, that tell a story of a man needing to be nurtured, as if white men aren’t nurtured enough. In the same way Beauty and the Beast was altered to be a story about the Beast and not about Beauty/Belle, Terminator 2 was altered to exclude Sarah Connor from the narrative unless it was to show her as an “animal”. A part that really got me during its analysis of Terminator 2 specifically, is when it's noted that Sarah Connor almost gives very insightful feminist commentary only to be interrupted by John Connor noting, “Mom. We need to be a little more constructive here”. I’ve never watched Terminator (the first one) and I do not think I am motivated to ever do so. My only knowledge of the film before this course was Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line “I’ll be back”. After reading Jefford’s article I am even more put off by the content. It was noted that the notion of individualism was affirmed and reproduced masculine authority. The transition from a “hard body” to a “family man” that is discussed in the reading was interesting in terms of what ideal masculinity is. It was noted that what men thought they were suppose to do to represent ideal masculinity is exactly was backfired and became an “evil curse”. Although masculinity does need to be reevaluated and become much more inclusive to those that do not fall under stereotypically “masculine” characteristics, the focus in films such as the Terminator series exclude those that are not white men and uplifts to role of men (even those that aren’t actually ~human~) within society to an extreme level.